The ORAS Journey
by GalaxianDragon
Summary: Brendan Kobushi has moved into the Hoenn region from Goldenrod city and sets out on a journey. His drive for pokemon battles leads him to the Pokémon League, and even against his own dad. Along the way he meets with the Kalos champion, Erica Tamashii. The two journey together throughout the region and battle against Team Aqua and Team Magma. Sequel to The Beautiful Adventure.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. I would also like to point out that I don't own the cover image, that was done by Loveon on DeviantArt.

"Speech"

'Thought'

_'Electronic speech'_

The world of Pokémon is a great and vast world, filled with many of the creatures that we have come to know and love. In this world, people strive to forge bonds with their pokemon. Whether it be through the art of pokemon battling, researching them, or just having fun with them, humans find a way to connect to pokemon.

Some trainers and pokemon rise high above the ranks of others that they meet along their journey and become gym leaders, elites, and even champions.

A little over one year ago in the Kalos region, a trainer name Erica Tamashii became a legend in her own right. The girl rose up from being somebody who was afraid to be alone, to a tenacious heroine. She and her pokemon fought hard in any challenge that they were given. The bonds that they shared drove them to defeat Team Flare and even champion of the region.

But there are many people who rise up to become legends, and this story is about a new rising hero. His story, which will rise higher than he dreamed, will take place in Hoenn.

_'Hello, sorry to keep you waiting. My name is professor Birch, but people just call me the Pokemon Professor.'_ A man appeared in a dimly lit room, he wore a black shirt with khakis and a lab coat. His unshaven beard was very noticeable.

_'This world is inhabited by many creatures that we call pokemon.'_ He popped open a ball which revealed a tiny water mouse pokemon.

A giant vibration shook throughout the truck. Causing the person holding the his Pokenav to almost drop it. The doors on the back of the truck started to leak in some light, revealing an outside world filled with pokemon.

"I still don't get why Mr. Birch sent me this message instead of waiting to meet me in person." Questioned the boy sitting in the back of the truck.

The truck that he rode in was designed to help move furniture around to new houses. Driving along a route filled with Pokémon, this truck's destination was the tiny town of Littleroot.

Brendan Kobushi is the name belonging to the boy who listened to the message being broadcasted on his Pokenav. The professor had sent him an email detailing what to expect on his pokemon journey.

_'I spend most of my time in the field, which is why this email is sent out to people.'_

"Oh, so that's why." Said Brendan. "I still think that he should've waited for me." He sighed and leaned on his arm as the truck continued its journey along the route.

The doors started to open again, which prompted Brendan to get up and close them. He could not help but regret that he chose to ride in the back of the moving truck. Not a good way to spend your birthday.

Above the ground of the Hoenn region a Talonflame soared through the skies, carrying a trainer on her backside. Said trainer was Erica Tamashii, the champion of the Kalos region. Her reason for coming to this region? Vacation time.

The fire bird pokemon landed in the town of Oldale, north of Littleroot town. Once Erica dismounted from her pokemon she looked around the town, taking in all the scenery.

"This place certainly is different from Kalos." Noted the blond champion. Her pokemon started to shake a little as she started to look around. Erica caught sight of this easily.

"Don't worry Phoenix, I'll send you back to the Kalos region. Make sure to keep Mom and Rhyhorn company." Said the girl as she petted her fire bird before returning her to the pokeball.

Erica had decided to go with a new look. One that was much different from her previous outfit. She now wore jean shorts with a short red parka. For some reason she decided to switch over from boots to a pair of pink shoes. Her bag and beret were both the same color of deep blue.

"Alright, time to get Phoenix back to Kalos." Noted the girl as she walked over to the nearby Pokémon Center. As she was walking towards it, sunlight was shining off of her black mega ring.

Brendan continued to wait in the back of the truck as it drove into town. When the motor stopped, the doors opened. The protagonist had to cover his eyes to get used to the bright light. Big burly pokemon known as Machoke walked into the truck and began to start unloading the furniture.

Moving around the pokemon, Brendan jumped out of the back of the truck. The sunlight made it easier to distinguish his appearance. He wore a red and black shirt that seemed to go well with his black pants. Oddly enough, he wore some green and white shoes. And the confusing hat still rested on his head.

The sight of a little town touched by nature was very attractive to Brendan. He took in a deep breath to clear his lungs.

"Brendan!" The teenager turned around to see his mom, Caroline Kobushi, walking over to him.

"I hope that you didn't get hurt in the back of the moving truck." Said the woman with a worried face.

"Nothing to worry about, I can take it." Reassured the boy.

"Isn't this place nice? We don't have to worry at all about the problems in the big and bustling city. It's so peaceful around here." Said the women as she took in the atmosphere of the town.

Brendan walked into the house and helped some of the Machoke with moving things into the rooms upstairs. There was one for both of his parents and one for himself. Moving the last of the things into his room, the teenager breathed a sigh of relief because of how hard the work was.

'Those pokemon were very nice in helping move the new furniture into the house.' He noticed a round clock hanging on the wall. It not only had a time, but also a date. The protagonist took the clock down to set the time and date.

When he put the clock back on the wall. The time he set was 12:43 P.M. and the date was March 17th. A tiny fire fox, known as a Vulpix, walked up into the room and rubbed herself against Brendan's leg.

"Oh! Hey Natsumi." He scratched the ears of the tiny fire pokemon to greet her. The two went downstairs where Mrs. Kobushi was watching the television.

"Brendan, Natsumi come quickly! There's a program on about Norman." The look on Brendan's face shifted to surprise and he ran over to see. Unfortunately, the program had changed to something else about a star show. The woman snapped her fingers in irritation.

"They were just doing an interview with Norman." Her complaints were easy to see. Her son just waved it off as bad timing.

The protagonist exited the household to visit with the neighbors. Specifically, May Birch. Aka, his childhood friend.

Erica exited the center in Oldale and walked down Route 101 towards Littleroot town. She had sent a message to Professor Birch asking for one of the starter pokemon that he had in his laboratory.

Strolling down the route, the foreign champion admired the tiny pokemon that wandered around the area.

'I wonder if this is how Brett and Keith felt when they were on their way to meet me.' Thought Erica.

Brendan walked up the stairs of the Birch's house to meet with May. Her room was very similar to his. Once May turned around to see her friend, she quickly jumped onto him and hugged him.

"Brendan!" Squealed the girl as she tackled him to the ground.

"Woah May!" Responded the teen as he was being crushed to death. May's outfit was very unique. A red tank top with white shorts that had black frills were very cute. She had the same shoes as her friend, and the red bow on her head was very cute.

"I haven't seen you in forever! How have you been?" Asked the brunette as she helped her friend up.

"I've been doing pretty fine." Answered Brendan as he got up on his feet. May smiled and clapped her hand in happy approval. Laughter came from her friend.

"Oh my gosh! I've got to get Dad so he knows that you're here!" She ran down the stairs and out of the house towards the laboratory in the town.

The brunette followed his friend out of the house, he was also eager to meet up with the professor. Seeing how it was his birthday, the fourteen year-old would get a partner and pokedex.

But little did he know how quickly he would get to meet with the esteemed man and start his journey.

With each step, the blond champion was coming closer to the small little town. She could feel the refreshing sensation of starting another chapter in her never-ending adventure.

"HELP!" Erica was immediately caught of guard by that plea. Her old instincts for heroism kicked in and she ran in the direction of the sound.

Brendan continued to wait near the town gate for May to return with her father. The brown-haired teen was starting to get bored and was about to go into the building himself.

"HELP!" Brendan flinched when he heard that sound coming from outside the gate. His legs instantly started to run in the direction of the sound out of Littleroot town.

Both Brendan and Erica ran towards the same person giving out the same plea. Neither knew what to expect as they both ran in the direction of the cry for help.

Thank you for reading this chapter, I hoped that you liked it. If there is anything that you'd like to say about this chapter, please leave a guest review.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. If I did, you would be able to rebattle gym leaders in every game.

"Speech"

'Thought'

Even though Brendan was more than ready to start an adventure, he didn't really expect it starting off by responding to somebody crying for help. He ran as fast as he legs would let him go through Route 101. He had to dodge through the many obstacles of the route to find whoever was pleading for help.

"Almost there." Grunted the protagonist as he jumped over a bush. But fate had other plans for him today, in the form of butting someone else in the head.

The protagonist stumbled back to ground, holding his forehead.

"Ita." Groaned Brendan. His eyes were squinted, which didn't allow him to see who he ran into.

"Ouch, you have a really hard head." Groaned the other person.

The brunette opened his eyes to see that he had run into a blond girl about the same age as him. She was holding her head just like he did and was blushing, probably from the pain.

"Ow, sorry about that." Brendan apologized to her as he offered her a hand back up. She reluctantly took his hand to get up. "Um...mind if I ask who you are?"

"My name is Erica, Erica Tamashii." Answered the girl as she stood up and shook the brunette's hand.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Brendan Kobushi." Introduced the teen. That last name sounded important in Erica's mind.

'Kobushi...I've heard that somewhere.' Thought the girl. She waved it off for later as she knew there was something more important at hand.

"So Brendan, are you the one who was calling me for help?"

Brendan couldn't help but feel a little offended at that question. He had a long-lasting history of doing things himself hence him riding in the back of a moving truck. Even though this girl couldn't have known who he was, his face still had a little bit of offense.

"No, I'm not. In fact, that is what I was running to." Answered the brunette quickly.

The girl's face suddenly shifted to a surprised and questioned look. Brendan didn't initially understand what she was surprised about, so he had to ask to find out.

"What's wrong?"

"If it wasn't you or me, then who was calling for help?" Her question forced him to think about that question. Who was calling for help?

"HELP!" The two of them turned in the same direction to find out who they were looking for.

Professor Birch was running around in the nearby tall grass. Specifically, he was running from a couple of pokemon. Dark, little dog pokemon called Poochyena were chasing him and trying to bite him.

The pokemon professor jumped a nearby tree like a cat while the pokemon started to bark and try to climb up the tree. He looked over to where the two trainers were located.

"Oh good! You two over there! I could really use some help!" Yelled the professor with a sheepish smile at the situation he was in.

"Sure! How can we help!?" Yelled Brendan in response. Professor Birch pointed in a direction relatively close to where the two trainers were standing. They followed the direction and found a tan bag.

"In that bag are three pokemon! You could get help from them to defeat the Poochyena!" Answered the man as he held onto the branch.

Erica kneeled down and picked up that bag. She unzipped it and pulled out three pokeballs. Each pokeball had a mark on it that indicated what type of pokemon was in it.

Brendan picked up the pokeball that had the water drop on it, and Erica picked the one with an ember on it. The two trainers immediately released their pokemon.

The water starter was the adorable amphibian, Mudkip. The fire starter was the cute chicken, Torchic.

"Mudkip, use tackle!" The tiny water pokemon jumped and rammed into the dark type, diverting their attention away Birch.

The other Poochyena jumped off of the tree and began to run and attack Mudkip from behind. But the Torchic jumped in front of the other.

"Torchic, use scratch!" Jumping up, the chicken scratched its opponent with its feet.

Running towards their pokemon, the two trainers joined for a double battle. Brendan turned his attention to Professor Birch, who was still in the tree.

"Professor, now is your chance!" Yelled the protagonist. Birch nodded and tried to walk down the bark, but instead he fell down and hit the ground. Both Brendan and Erica shared the same face of embarrassment.

The bearded man scuttled away and picked up his bag as he got away from the area.

"Yosh! Are you ready for this Erica!?" Chanted the brunette. The blond was slightly surprised by this boy's confidence, but she was slightly attracted to it as well.

"Yeah, let's do this Brendan!" She plastered on her confident smirk.

Both of the tiny bite pokemon growled, despite the challenge that they were presented with. They both howled in unison, boosting their attack.

"Torchic, use growl." Torchic followed the order and growled to decrease the moral of the enemies.

"Mudkip, use tackle on the right one!" The famous water starter rammed itself into one of the wild pokemon, effectively defeating it quickly.

Both Erica and her partner made note of how odd it was that he didn't try to lower the attack. Once again, she decided to push it to the side till later.

"Use ember on the other Poochyena!" The fire chicken spewed a couple of tiny flames to defeat the last wild pokemon.

Erica and Torchic sighed, it had been a little while since she had felt such a battle like that, despite how quick it was. Her gaze turned over to see what her partner was doing.

"Yosh! Way to go Mudkip!" Brendan was yelling in excitement and pumping his fist into the air.

'This guy. He is...unique.' A slight red tint spread across her cheeks. The feeling of being rubbed by the leg interrupted her thoughts. Torchic was rubbing Erica's leg in affection.

Brendan could not stop feeling excited at the moment. His first battle after moving into Hoenn and he had no problems at all. Even making friends with a pokemon he just met was awesome.

"You know Erica, you and Torchic were awesome out there." Commented Brendan, gaining some trust from Erica.

"Thank you. You and Mudkip did really well, despite the reckless style." Even though it was a bit of insult, Brendan was very happy with that comment. But something else clicked in the teen's mind as he looked at Erica holding Torchic.

"...She's...pretty.' A blush spread across his face as he thought about her appearance.

Suddenly, Professor Birch came running towards the two trainers. He was very much out of breath, both from running from the Poochyena and running back to his saviors.

"Oh thank you very much." Thanked the worn-out professor as he bowed.

"It's no problem, glad to help." Said Brendan in response. Looking closer at the two people, Birch started to figure out who they were. He snapped his fingers snapped as he came to a conclusion.

"You two are Brendan Kobushi and Erica Tamashii aren't you?" Asked the man as he pointed to each of them, to which they each gave a nod of approval.

"It is good to finally meet the two of you." Commented the professor as he shook both of their hands. "Please, you must come back with me to my laboratory."

Being told where to go wasn't really something that Brendan was found of. But this was the man that he was looking for, so perhaps it wouldn't be so bad.

In Littleroot town, there was a small lab at which Professor Birch conducted research. Littleroot town was chosen as the destination because of how close it was to nature. Birch had decided to give three pokedexes and three pokemon to three trainers deserving of them.

However, he would get that down until his daughter was finished scolding him for going out without telling anyone.

"What were you thinking Dad? You know that you have to tell somebody where you're going when you leave." Complained May.

Birch tried to calm his daughter with a sheepish smile, apparently the man had a history of getting himself into trouble.

"Professor Birch, why exactly were the pokemon chasing you back there?" Asked Brendan. Once again, the professor put up a sheepish grin and rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, I was climbing up a nearby tree to examine a Wurmple without disturbing it. I was so close too, but I fell down onto the Poochyena." Explained the Professor sheepishly.

Needless to say, all three of the teenagers looked at him with a face that indicated how embarrassing of an event that was.

Despite the embarrassing looks that he was getting from everyone, the professor walked over to the nearby computer and started to type in a command. A few jolts of energy were carried through the wires and into a nearby dome-like device. The lid on top of the device popped open.

"Now, onto business." Said Birch as he walked over to the dome and picked up three orange devices.

"These are the pokedexes that I developed. You three wanted each wanted one of these to take with you, correct?" Asked the professor.

All three nodded and each of them took one of the pokedexes that he held. Brendan however, was caught off by something strange.

'Why does it look like a Gameboy Advance?' Thought the protagonist. It was a little bit odd that the advanced device looked like a gaming device.

"Judging by your performance out there, you two did exceptionally well out there with Mudkip and Torchic." Commented Birch to Brendan and Erica.

"In fact, it seems that those pokemon have already bonded with you, maybe you should take them with you." Suggested the professor. Both of the trainers appealed to the idea.

"All right I like the sound of that. I think that I'll name you...Aqua!" Said Brendan to his starter. Erica and May laughed a little at the uncreative name.

"Then I think I'll name you...Amber!" The fire type chirped up at the idea.

Professor Birch reached over to the last pokeball on his desk, the one with the leaf on it, and gave it to his daughter. Her face was bright with excitement. Opening it revealed a tiny lizard with a tail that looked a little bit like a leaf, Treecko.

"Hi there Treecko. My name is May." Said the girl as she shook the tiny pokemon's hand.

The professor cleared his throat to get attention from the three trainers.

"I want each of you to take these pokemon and these pokedexes with you as you venture out into the world. I'm itching to see what grand stories you three will be able to create out there." Said the professor.

The two girls thank Birch in a similar way, bowing in thanks. But Brendan had his own way of showing his appreciation.

Brendan ran up to Professor Birch and started shaking the man's hand in an energetic manner. After the frenzy of nearly tearing off the man's arm, the brunette picked up Aqua and bolted out of the lab.

The pokemon professor was caught off guard by this, and May giggled a little at her friend's attitude. However, Erica was barely fazed.

'I've seen that attitude somewhere before.' Thought the girl as she reflected on her previous adventure.

With much vigor, Brendan was racing with Aqua to get out of the town and get started on his adventure.

"Brendan!" He stopped before reaching the gates and turned around to see who called him. His mother was running up to him, holding a green and white backpack.

"Are you setting off honey?" Asked the mother as she handed the bag to her son.

"Yeah Mom, I've got to start my journey." Answered the boy with a little reluctance. Despite the fact that he would get to start off on a journey, Brendan was a little sad about leaving his mother behind.

Caroline was easily able to detect her son's sadness. She decided it best to reassure him of her support.

"Well, just know that both your father and your mother are proud of you. You will always have a place here at your home."

She turned around and walked back to the house, but not before giving her son one wave goodbye.

Brendan stood outside of the gate for more than a couple of seconds with the same face. His expression was a mix between sorrow and concentration. Deciding to put it aside however, he slapped his backpack on and began to run towards Route 101.

"Yeah! Let's do this!" Yelled the protagonist as he partner pokemon ran alongside him out into the world.

Thank you for reading this chapter, hoped you liked it. If you have anything that you want to say about the story, please leave a guest review.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. I'd rather own Yu-Gi-Oh...but I do not.

"Speech"

'Thought'

In between Kanto and Johto lies a large mountain named Mt. Silver. Its peak goes above the clouds, making it a treacherous climb for any person. Regardless if that person is the region's champion or not.

'I'm starting to regret not taking Erica up on that offer to Hoenn.'

Keith Chiyoku was leading a scientific expedition up the mountain. He and a group of scientists were searching for the location of a strong creature that had been reported being seen around the summit.

Keith was very determined to find more scientific facts to study, even if it meant he would have to go through a blizzard. Which he was at the moment.

"Chief!" The Kanto Champion looked down to his colleagues, he hadn't noticed that he had climbed a little bit higher than them.

"What is it!?" He had to yell to pierce the sound of the storm.

"We need to take shelter, the storm is getting fierce!" Yelled the man in response.

He didn't want to, but the champion knew it would be a better idea to live than to freeze for a glimpse of the creature. He started to descend down to the group.

"Yeah, I guess you're right!"

As he was walking down, Keith noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A tail of flame was streaking across the blizzard. The brunette tried to get a camera to get the picture, but he wasn't nearly fast enough.

'So close.'

Brendan and Aqua were travelling through Route 101 of the Hoenn region. The young protagonist was excited to finally go on a journey that he was shaking. But actually, it wasn't him who was shaking the backpack.

"What the-" He reached into the back and pulled out a pokeball from his backpack. Curiosity got the best of him and he released the pokemon inside.

Out of the pokeball came a Vulpix, Natsumi to be exact. With surprise and excitement, Brendan leaned down to pick her up.

"Natsumi! Did my mom sneak you into there?" Asked the brunette in a playful voice. The fire fox barked playfully back in response.

Brendan set Natsumi back onto the ground, where Aqua proceeded to inspect her. In return, she started to sniff his face, which prompted Aqua to start running away. The Vulpix thought of it as a game and chased after the Mudkip.

Even though he wanted to laugh, looking at the scene reminded Brendan of something. Something that he didn't really want to think too much about.

A boy was sliding across the wooden floor of a dojo before he ran into a nearby wall. He struggled to get back up onto his feet, which didn't work out too well.

"Well, do you want to give up yet?" Said a strong voice to the child. Said child jumped up with a determined face.

"No! Not until I've beaten you!" The little boy recklessly charged towards the older man without any kind of plan.

The man sighed and moved out-of-the-way a second before the boy could run into him. The tiny challenger slipped and fell on the floor again, and he ran into the wall again. He was picked up by the older man and set on his feet.

"You've tried hard, but you just can't beat me yet. Come on, let's go home." Offered the man. The little kid rubbed the side of his face with a pouty face.

"...Alright Dad."

Brendan was interrupted from his flashback by the feeling of something rubbing against his leg. He looked down to his shoes to see that Natsumi and Aqua were looking up at him with worried faces.

The protagonist kneeled down and petted the heads of both of the pokemon. A large grin spread across his face.

"Don't worry. I'm fine." He retrieved both of the pokemon to their pokeballs and continued down the route.

Oldale town was located just north of Littleroot town and it was not too much different from the little town. A pokemon center and a small shopping center were both separately available, but the tiny town was still pretty similar to its neighbor.

The brunette protagonist walked around and pondered on where he should go next, seeing as how there wasn't much to do in this town. There was not exit to the east and the northern exit just led to another route. To the west was Petalburg town.

"Alright then, to Petalburg!" Brendan began to walk out the western exit. As he was walking, the thought of getting some pokeballs crossed his mind.

"NO STOP!" A man ran straight into the brunette knocking him into the air, and back into Oldale town. The man started to dust in area which Brendan was walking on.

"What was that for?" Asked Brendan with a dizzy head. Instead of getting an answer, the weird man just gave Brendan an upset face.

"These are unknown pokemon footprints. Don't disturb them!" Answered the man loudly and quickly before running back to inspect them some more.

The protagonist thought it best not to try to get past this guy, with or without his pokemon's help. A better option would be to explore the northern route outside of Oldale town.

'Those footprints. They kind of looked like shoes.' Thought Brendan as he walked into the next route.

Route 103 was more or less similar to Route 101, the only main difference that stood out was that it had access to the ocean.

As the brunette teen entered into the route, he spotted a familiar face. May was at the end of the route, possibly doing research on the local pokemon. Brendan ran up to greet his friend. Running up to her, he noticed that the girl was indeed taking notes.

"...And I saw this pokemon here, and this one seemed to be doing-" May abruptly turned around, and bumped into her friend. "Oh Brendan! I didn't see you there!"

"Don't worry about it. What are you doing there?" Asked the boy. As an answer, May pulled out her notepad and showed what she had written to him.

Several good sketches of the pokemon were in the book as well as notes that the brunette had been taking. Brendan was really intrigued by the sketches that May had taken, he had no idea that she was this good.

"Wow May, I had no idea that you were this good of a sketch artist." That comment put a wide smile on her face.

"Thank you." She put the sketch pad back into her bag and pulled out a pokeball. "You know, we haven't really battled since the junior tournament a while ago."

Her suggestion put a confident, and hot-blooded smirk on Brendan's face. He pulled out a pokeball as well, and jumped backwards several feet to gain some distance.

Both trainers launched their pokeballs and released their starter pokemon. May already had the advantage of type, but that wasn't going to slow down her opponent.

"Aqua, use tackle attack." The tiny amphibian charged forward into the Treecko, knocking him back a few feet.

"Treecko, counter with your pound attack!" The wood gecko smacked his right fist into Aqua's face.

"Quick! Get away from Treecko!" Aqua jumped back a few feet to gain some distance between the two. "Use tackle again!" Another hard impact forced the grass starter pokemon back another few feet.

Treecko struggled to get back up on his feet. May's face started to show a nervous expression. Never-the-less, she and her partner persevered through the challenge.

"Now, use absorb." The gecko jumped forward with an open mouth, he had the intention of draining Aqua's energy for himself.

"Aqua, duck!" Before Treecko could chomp down on Aqua's head, he ducked his head and fin into the ground. Both the girl and the grass starter were caught off by this quick trick.

"And use mud slap!" Using the fin on top of his head, Aqua quickly gathered up dirt off of the ground and slapped it into his opponent's face.

Treecko stumbled back before falling to the ground with swirls in his eyes. Brendan and Aqua won. May sighed and returned her pokemon to the pokeball before scratching her head.

"I guess that you really did win that junior tournament." Admitted the girl sheepishly. She pulled out a couple of oran berries and handed them to the winner. "You can use these to heal your pokemon. I'll see you later!"

The brunette ran in the direction of Oldale town. Brendan sighed happily and returned his pokemon to the pokeball. With May and Aqua gone, Brendan notice something that he hadn't seen before.

A tiny pond was just a few feet in front of him. He walked forward to get a closer look at it. It was quite a rare and beautiful sight to behold. The brunette leaned down to look into it. Water dripped into the pond by falling of off a nearby leaf. Looking into it allowed Brendan to see his own reflection, almost perfectly. He could see something else that he couldn't quite make out. All he could see was a blond color.

"And I thought that I was the only one who enjoyed looking at myself in the mirror." Brendan jolted and turned around to see Erica standing up in front of him. He quickly regained his composure and got to standing up on his feet.

"Hi there Erica. You came out of nowhere didn't you?" Brendan was trying to keep his image looking good.

Instead of answering, the blond just stared the brunette down for a couple of seconds. He was a little nervous by this, made apparent by the blush that was clearly spread across his face.

"Sorry for the rude demeanor, but I've got to ask." Said the girl. Brendan could feel an intensity in the air coming from Erica. It was so odd that the girl's silence could make the entire atmosphere so tense.

"...Why is your hair white?"

Brendan fell down on his butt in surprise. May's prediction was more than correct about the white knit hat being confusing. The teen quickly got back up on his feet and took off the white hat, revealing his brown hair.

"It is not white! See? I'm totally a brunette!" Complained Brendan as he pointed at his clearly brown hair.

"Sorry, but it did seem pretty convincing to me." Explained the blond as she laughed at her friend's actions. Brendan tried to muster up some kind of retort back at her, but not much was coming to mind. He sighed as he put his knit hat back on.

"Ugh, and I thought that I did a good job growing out my bangs."

Erica walked past him and kneeled down to the tiny pond for a closer look into it. She was mesmerized by the beauty of it all. Reaching her left hand out, the blond dipped her finger into the pond. Brendan just stood to the side, his face was painted with curiosity at the blond's actions.

"It's really interesting, isn't it." She pulled her finger out and stood back up. "How nature can create such majestic and artistic sights."

They boy had to agree with her about that, something about looking at a natural state of beauty seemed so much better than one created synthetically.

"Yeah, I guess you're right about that." Answered Brendan.

Without warning, beeping noise started to emerge from the brunette's pocket. Both his and Erica's faces were painted with curiosity as he pulled out his Pokenav from his right pocket. The screen of the yellow device had an exclamation mark with a thin white circle encasing it.

Curiosity got the better of Brendan as he pressed the screen which caused it to change into an arrow pointing towards the east. Another odd ting was that the number, 010 present in the upper left corner. Without any consent, the Brunette followed the arrow.

The tail of a Poochyena was sticking out of the grass, and Brendan carefully crept towards it. Unfortunately for him, the dog detected him and jumped out. As a quick response, Brendan launched Aqua out.

"Use tackle!" The Mudkip jumped forward and pushed the dark type back. In return, Poochyena jumped forward and tackled back at the Mudkip.

"Here Aqua, take it!" Brendan tossed his partner an oran berry to restore health. Aqua jumped up and quickly ate the berry to restore a little bit of health.

Before he could throw out another command, the Poochyena jumped forward and bit Aqua's backside. A quick struggle separated the two from each other, but Erica noticed something after Poochyena had been knocked off. Burn marks were on the side of the water-type.

'It knows fire fang?' Questioned the girl.

"Use mud slap!" The head fin of Aqua dragged through the ground and into the Poochyena's face. Reaching behind him, Brendan tried to pull out a pokeball. His face was a little shocked when he could find none.

'Crap...I think that I forgot to purchase pokeballs.'

All of a sudden, a pokeball came flying through the air and landed in Brendan's hand. With a curious face, he turned his attention to Erica.

Her face was serious, but she also gave him a nod in response. Brendan's curious look shifted to a grateful smile as he launched the pokeball towards the Poochyena. The device shook a few times before it clicked, capturing the hound.

"Alright!" The protagonist walked over and picked up the pokeball on the ground. His pokedex started to beep and reveal the information of the pokemon.

"Ok, so you're a girl. Then I'll name you Rin!" Erica put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a thumbs up.

"Good job!"

"Thanks, but why did you help me out?" She walked past him a few steps before looking back at him with an answer.

"I just thought that you really wanted to capture that pokemon. See ya later."

The blond continued to walk back towards Oldale town, leaving a dazed trainer behind her. As she did, a faint blush spread across her face. She couldn't help but feel a little attracted to his battle style.

'But at the same time, I find him just a little too reckless.' She was broken out of her thoughts by the sound of someone running to her. Brendan was running to catch up to her.

"Wait up will you?" When he caught to her, he had to ask her something important. "Are you going to Petalburg town?"

Erica nodded at that question, to which her friend smiled.

"Then lets travel there together. I'm also heading there." Proposed the teenager. Erica was a little surprised, but she gave a happy nod of affirmation.

He couldn't quite explain it, but Erica accepting his offer put Brendan in a little bit of a good mood. To him it was like he had hit the center of a target. Despite not being able to explain it, Brendan strolled with Erica back to Oldale town.

Thanks for reading this chapter, I hoped you liked it. If there is anything that you want to say about the fanficiton, then please leave a guest review.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. If I did, the battle chateau would've come back in ORAS. I also don't own Gundam.

"Speech"

'Thought'

Brendan walked down with Erica to Oldale town after deciding that the two should travel together till they got to Petalburg city, which was only westward of Oldale town. As the two continued to walk down, Brendan noticed the odd bracelet that Erica was wearing.

"Say Erica, where did you get that bracelet?" She turned around to him with a confused face. The curiosity was cured when she figured out that he was talking about the mega ring.

"Oh, this? It's called a mega ring. I got it on my last adventure." Answered the girl. Even though he was answered, Brendan was left with another question.

"Where was that?"

"About a year ago in Kalos. I'm from that region, which is why I might seem a little bit foreign to you." Her explanation did make a little sense to him, Kalos was very different than Hoenn. But then again, the brunette was also foreign.

"Just to avoid confusion, I'm not from Hoenn either. My family moved in today from Johto." Explained Brendan quickly.

That fact really seemed to stick out to Erica when she heard it. This guy had a bit of a reckless style, and he was from the Johto region. She felt compelled to ask him another question, one about Johto.

"Have you ever heard of The Blazing Fighter?" Asked the girl as they entered Oldale town.

Once he heard that name, Brendan stopped quickly as his face changed into an open smile. Judging by that expression, Erica could guess that this guy had heard of Brett.

"Yeah, I've heard of that guy. I haven't ever met him, but I heard that he is an extremely good pokemon champion around my age!" He was practically a die-hard gundam fan watching episode 7 of Gundam Unicorn.

"Really? How old are you again?" She had never heard from Brendan what his age was, it would help out to know.

"I'm fourteen." Answered the brunette casually.

"Cool! So am I." Said Erica in return. A moment passed before they shared a quick laugh at the coincidences between each other.

Walking out of the westward exit of Oldale town, Brendan realized that the guy from earlier was gone. He took a few moments to look around to see if he could spot the stranger. Brendan caught sight of him sitting next to the mart.

The odd scientist was curled up and swirling his finger against the wall. The brunette couldn't help but put up a nervous smile after seeing that sight.

'He must've figured out that the tracks were his...'

Walking west out of Oldale town led the two into Route 102, which wasn't much different from the other two routes that they visited. As they walked, small butterfly pokemon named Beautifly were flying above the trees.

Erica gazed with awe at the pokemon overhead. The pokenav started to beep in Brendan's pocket, prompting him to pull it out. A silhouette of the Beautifly appeared on the screen.

"I guess this...dexnav just detects pokemon sometimes." Noted the brunette as he shut it off and stuffed it back into his pocket.

Moments after that, grass started to rustle violently. Both trainers turned around to see what it was. The pond skitter pokemon, Surskit, jumped out and rushed around them to attack.

Brendan readied himself to attack with Aqua, but Erica jumped in front of him and released Amber. The protagonist decided to leave things in her hands so he could see how she battled and give Aqua a break.

"Amber, start off with growl!" The orange chicken let out a slightly fearsome growl that lowered the attack of the Surskit before it attacked. The water skitter returned with bubbles.

"Use scratch on the bubbles!" Amber jumped up and used her sharp talons to tear the bubbles apart. She landed right behind the Surskit. "And now use ember!"

The fire pokemon spewed tiny flames that assaulted the opponent until it collapsed.

"Good job, get some rest." Complemented Erica as she retrieved the pokemon.

Brendan couldn't help but stare from the sidelines with an open mouth. Three attacks was all it took to take down that angry Surskit. And the bond that she was sharing with Amber was so strong.

'She's...she's even better than dad is.' Thought the protagonist with a little bit of surprise.

"Are you ok?" He was brought out of his thoughts by when Erica was shaking his arm with a little bit of a concerned face. He reassured her with a carefree and confident smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry." He marched into Petalburg city quickly after pushing her arm off.

The city of Petalburg was, in all honesty, more of a town rather than a city. A few more houses and a large pond didn't make it much bigger than Oldale town or Littleroot town. One factor that did make it different was that it had a pokemon gym.

Erica's face lit up with excitement when she saw the gym in the center of the town. Brendan also saw the gym, but his excited smile exceeded Erica's. He ran past her to go to the gym.

"Thanks Erica, hope to see you around!" Yelled the protagonist as he waved back to her with an open smile.

Instantly, the blond could feel some feeling of loss. She put it down quickly as she reminded herself that she was strong enough to not have any human travelling partners.

'Being with pokemon is good enough. Still...Kobushi...!' Her face lit up with surprise as she had an epiphany.

The inside of the Petalburg gym was almost exactly like the inside of a martial arts dojo. Sleek wooden floors and everything. Brendan slowly walked in with an overconfident grin. In the center of the room, two men were discussing business before Brendan arrived. Both of them turned to see the brunette as he entered.

One of the men was wearing a brown suit and some kind of afro mustache combo going on. The other man was wearing a plain white shirt that was covered by a red jacket, and some dark blue pants didn't hurt the look at all. His black hair and gray eyes also added to the intimidation factor. He turned back to his associate.

"I'll make sure to send in the documents to the league association." The dark-haired man shook hands with the tuxedo guy before the latter exited. The former turned around to face Brendan.

"Your mother called and told me to expect you." Stated the man with a serious face. "I expect that you are here for some kind of challenge?"

The brunette nodded and with closed fists, took a martial arts position.

"You bet I am, Dad! But I am here t0 take you on for a fist fight!" He rushed forward and launched his left fist towards his own father.

Brendan's father sighed and moved his face out of the way a mere few seconds before a collision could occur. The force that the boy was packing kept pushing him into a nearby wall, luckily he didn't break it.

"I'm not done yet!" Turning back, he quickly charged back towards his father to attack with his right fist. The older sighed and moved his head out of the way yet again.

However this time, Brendan anticipated it and aimed his left fist towards the gym leader's gut. The father saw this and quickly grabbed his son's right arm and flipped him into the entrance wall.

"Well, I give you credit for you're tenacity in the situation and you did make a few improvements over your fighting style." Noted the gym leader as he helped his son back up.

"I promise you that I'll defeat you." Pulling out a pokeball, Brendan jumped back a few feet. However, his father just pushed the capture device back down.

"You're not ready yet. If you truly want to take me on, you will need to defeat other gym leaders first. Roxanne is a good starting point, she is in Rustboro city." Noted the man.

The somewhat determined face that Brendan was bearing had shifted into a disappointed scowl.

"...Fine." His father smiled in return to his son's agreement.

Moments after, they were both alerted to the sound of the door being knocked upon. The doors of the gym opened and a young boy wearing gray attire came in. He was interesting in the fact that he had green hair and gray eyes, but his face seemed to portray a shy and nervous nature. He carefully walked up to the gym leader.

"Umm...excuse me...I..." This guy was very shy apparently. The time that he was taking up irritated Brendan a little bit.

"Yes, go on." Urged Brendan.

"Um...my name is Wally Hanatoro." Introduced the boy to the gym leader. Mr. Kobushi rubbed his chin and snapped his fingers as the memory came back to him.

"I remember now. You're family asked to set up an appointment with me to receive a pokemon, correct?" Wally nodded his head in response to the inquiry.

The gym leader placed his chin in the palm of his hand. He did promise the Hanatoro family that he would help prep Wally for an adventure, but the man also had more than a few documents to take care of. A solution came to him quickly when his vision turned to his son.

"Brendan, please take Wally out and help to train him." Commanded the father to his son. Both of the younger boys were shocked and their faces demanded an answer.

"Wally, I believe that you will have better luck learning from somebody closer to your age." He gave the green haired boy a pokeball and turned back to face his son.

"Brendan, if you want to be able to beat me, you will need to be able to convey what you know to others."

Even though he wanted to protest against his father, Brendan wanted to be able to defeat him even more. He relented and walked with Wally outside of the building. The two started to move towards Route 102 to catch a pokemon.

Moments after the two boys left, Erica Tamashii walked up to the door of the gym and knocked on it to get the attention of the gym leader. For a few seconds the door remained still before Mr. Kobushi opened it.

"Norman Kobushi, I request a quick challenge from you." Demanded the blond champion.

"Very well, but my pokemon and I will be fighting in earnest." He and the challenger walked into the gym for the match. But he didn't have any idea what was about to happen in the battle.

Brendan and Wally were walking through Route 102 till the brunette spotted a nice patch of tall grass. He turned around to Wally to give the green haired boy instructions.

"Alright Wally, that pokemon my dad lent to you is only to help you catch another pokemon." Said the teenager. "Do you have a pokeball or do we need to head to the mart."

"I've got my own Mr. Brendan." Answered Wally as he held out the empty pokeball. Although the respect of authority was appreciated, Brendan didn't like how he was addressed.

"Just Brendan is fine." He pointed to the nearby patch of tall grass. "You'll need to walk through that patch if you want to find a pokemon. Once you do, knock its health down low enough so that it will be weakened for the capture."

Wally nodded and walked into the grass, strolling in circles for a couple of seconds before a wild pokemon appeared. The pokemon that appeared in front of his was cute, had green hair and an odd red horn sticking out of its head. The feeling pokemon, Ralts.

"Ok, here we go!" Launching the pokeball released the tiny raccoon pokemon, Zigzagoon. "Now, use tackle!"

The impact knocked Ralts back a few feet. In return, the feeling pokemon released a growl that knocked down the power of Zigzagoon's attacks. But that wasn't enough to stop Wally and his Zigzagoon as the raccoon pokemon once again tackled into Ralts.

"Now Wally! Use the empty pokeball!" Yelled Brendan from the sidelines.

The younger trainer nodded and threw his pokeball. It made contact and sucked up the Ralts. Wally showed a concerned face as the capture device shook a couple times before clicking.

"Yes I did it!" He returned Zigzagoon and ran over to pick up the pokeball. "Thank you very much Brendan. I'm going to go give the pokemon back to Mr. Kobushi now, see you around!" He waved off to his friend as he ran back to Petalburg.

Brendan stood in the same spot and waved goodbye to Wally. Watching and helping his friend through that battle did somehow remind him of when he battled with Erica earlier. In fact, thinking about her reminded her of how amazing she was when she battle the Surskit.

'Her technique and style, it was just so amazing.' Thought the brunette. The next thought would force him to swallow down some pride.

'...I should ask her...for help...if I want to beat Dad.' For some reason even thinking that thought was hard for him to do.

Speaking of Norman, he was also being forced to swallow down some pride. His entire team had been dominated by a single pokemon. Erica stood on the other side of the battlefield, a happy smile spread across her face.

"That was incredible technique, I concede in defeat." The gym leader walked over to the champion to give her the gym badge. But when he tried to give it to her, she pushed it back.

"Not that I don't want it, I just wanted to test you." Explained the blond.

"Test me, for what?" Asked Norman.

Erica laughed a little and turned to the side. She was about to explain when Wally came in with the pokeball that Norman gave him.

"Oh sorry, am I interrupting?" Asked the boy politely as he took notice of Erica. She waved it off with a smile and exited the building.

"No, I was just leaving actually." Answered the girl as she walked out the door. Norman was left dazed by what just happened, but he gave in and turned to his guest.

"What is it Wally? Did Brendan help you out?" The green haired boy nodded and handed back the pokeball with Zigzagoon inside. He then told the gym leader about how good of a teacher the brunette was.

Norman couldn't help but feel proud that his son had done so well to teach somebody else. The thought that the two would have a battle someday soon was making him feel a little bit excited.

Brendan continued to think about Erica. Daylight was fading and he would need to rest up before he could find the girl. However, luck would have it that he would get to run into her soon. The blond was walking through the middle of the city.

"Hey Erica!" He ran towards her while waving to get her attention, which did more than enough. Her face was painted with surprise when she saw him.

"Oh hey Brendan. I thought I wouldn't get to see you again for a while." Greeted Erica upon meeting with her friend again.

"Yeah about that. I noticed how good of a battler you were yesterday and I wanted to ask a favor of you." He tried to keep eye contact with her, but sadly failed and turned to the right.

Even though she blushed a little at the comment about her skills, Erica was a little worried about what he was going to ask next.

"Well...um...will you travel with me...so I can learn under you?" That sentence somehow forced him to pull up a lot of courage to ask.

'Oh, so that's what he wanted.' The blond was a little bit relieved and disappointed at the same time that he didn't ask about something else. Even though she could travel on her own now, having some company around couldn't hurt.

"Well...I don't see why not."

Brendan's nervous face shifted into an excited smile as he grabbed Erica's hand and started to shake it. The blond champion laughed a little at how he reacted. In return, he also laughed. He was very joyous that this person, whom he had only met today accepted his wishes to travel with him and teach him how to become a better pokemon trainer.

Thanks for reading this chapter, I hope you liked it. If there is anything that you want to say about the story or this chapter, leave it in the guest review. In the next chapter, Brendan and Erica travel northwest to Petalburg woods and meet with Team Aqua for the first time.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. If I did, we'd have more easter eggs like the Looker.

"Speech"

'Thought'

The sun started to rise over the landscape of Petalburg city, giving light to a previously dark setting. Light reached so far as to wake most of the inhabitants of the small city. Last night, both Brendan and Erica had checked into the pokemon center to sleep for the night.

Brendan woke on his own without the need of the sunlight. He had spent the last couple of hours thinking about going to Rustboro city while being in bed.

"Challenge Roxanne first..." Whispered the brunette as he pulled out a map. Dim sunlight made it easier for him to read it. "Rustboro city is northwest of here, I'd have to go through Petalburg Woods first."

"We'd have to go through Petalburg Woods first." Surprised, Brendan turned to see the slightly awoken blond girl in the other bed.

"Sorry if I woke you." Apologized Brendan with a sheepish smile. Erica just shook her head as she got out of the bed.

"Nah don't worry about it, I usually wake up around this time anyways."

The two trainers got dressed in their usual outfits, which could last days at a time, and went downstairs to get some breakfast. They also gave the pokemon time to eat as well. Brendan was scarfing down pancakes like no one's business whilst Erica was calmly eating a crepe.

"I really appreciate that you would come along with me Erica." Said Brendan after pancake number five.

"Oh it's nothing really, I need a vacation from my job in Kalos anyway." Said the blond before sipping on some herbal tea.

'Job? What kind of job does she have? Maybe I should just ask her later...'

Erica couldn't help that the irony was so rich in this scenario. She was taught by champions in the past and now being one herself, she was teaching somebody else.

'Funny how the universe works out.'

After a brief breakfast, the blond and the brunette picked up their pokemon and began to exit Petalburg city. Before leaving the town, Brendan made sure to stop near a shop to buy a few supplies.

As they were leaving, Brendan took one quick look at the gym. Erica quickly caught sight of this. She knew exactly what he was doing, and she decided to leave it to himself.

'When I return, I'll defeat you for sure.' With that last thought, he moved onwards to his journey with Erica.

The next route, 104, was a route with some interesting perks over the last couple that the two had been through. The main difference being that it connected directly to the ocean and had two parts split by Petalburg woods in the middle of it.

Knowing that Rustboro city would be only north of their current position, the two trainers began to walk in that very direction. As they did, Erica noticed a boathouse with a ferry right next to it.

"A boat ride across the sea would be a lovely, wouldn't it?" Suggested the blond.

"But then we'd be getting further away from Rustboro city." Brendan's retort was quick, which could help Erica to quickly deduce that he wanted this gym battle. "I need to battle Roxanne and defeat her." Said Brendan with determined eyes.

"So you can battle your dad, right?" Asked Erica quickly.

The brunette stopped moments after that. He was not prepared for that kind of response from somebody he had only recently met. Erica did have some sort of attraction in her appearance, but he didn't expect her to be so perceptive. Brendan only trusted her so much right now, so he had to ask.

"How did you know?" His voice had a bit of anger mixed with shock.

Erica could sense the uneasy feelings coming from Brendan, so she decided to be careful with her answer.

"I'd heard of Norman Kobushi before from a friend, and how he had a competitive son. You staring at the gym earlier confirmed my suspicions about your relationship with him." Answered the blond truthfully.

Brendan couldn't help but realize that he was sort of giving himself away with that action. And he could not deny fact that he wanted to defeat his father in battle. The brunette turned back to Erica with a bit of a depressed face.

"I guess that's true...sorry about that." He had to mutter the end of his sentence quickly from embarrassment.

Instead of any kind of ashamed or upset attitude, Erica gave Brenan an understanding look as she walked past him

"It's alright. After all, I've had those same feelings before." Said the blond as she walked straight past him.

'...I don't get this girl at all.' Thought Brendan with confused eyes.

The entrance to Petalburg Woods seemed to give off a mysterious, almost sinister, aura in the air. If this was a year ago, Erica Tamashii would be somewhat terrified. But these kinds of things did little to her.

Brendan was somehow interested, almost excited. Just thinking that on the other side of these woods was his first gym battle.

'This obstacle is tiny on my road to greater heights.' Thought Brendan with some kind of fighter-style eyes. In more ways than one, he resembled the Blazing Champion he looked up to.

But before the blond and the brunette could enter the forest, a bird like pokemon flew down from the trees and began to aggresivly attack them with a few tackle attacks.

Erica put up her arms as a method of defense, but Brendan defensively started to deflect the red, white, and blue (not American) bird with his fists. As a result, it flew a little higher to gain some distance.

"What is that pokemon?" The brunette flipped out his pokedex which started to scan the creature. Taillow was the name that appeared on the screen.

"It looks like a normal/flying type to me. Go Rin!" Throwing out the pokeball, Brendan released his friend that he captured yesterday. "Alright, Jump up and tackle it!"

The blond bystander was unimpressed watching the dark hound attempt to jump up and slammed into Taillow. Watching this sad display didn't exactly send Brendan across as a well seasoned trainer.

'And I thought that Brett was reckless.'

Taillow immediately began to descend for a tackle attack, giving Brendan and Rin a chance to strike back.

"Quick, dodge!" Using her quick legs, the Poochyena thrust herself out of the way. As a result of the empty space, the tiny swallow pokemon slammed into the ground.

"Alright, hit em' with your fire fang!" Rin jumped back and landed on the bird pokemon and bit with hot fangs. Taillow fainted mere moments afterwards.

Rin knocked the tiny swallow pokemon away and gave a rather confident grin. Brendan pumped his fist excitedly at the quick victory.

Erica continued to watch with an analytic face, probably a trait that she inherited from Keith. The brunette returned his Poochyena and turned around with a face that asked for a review.

"So teach, how was that?" The foreign champion cupped her cheek with her left hand and looked to her right. A few seconds passed before she broke said stance.

"I find that you are overwhelmingly confident in battle." His face brightened with a happy smile. "But at the same time, you are also too reckless."

Instead of being simply upset at the critical comment, Brendan was just left with a stymied face.

"Reckless, I don't really follow you there." Stated the boy as he scratched the side of his head.

"Well, you're pokemon have attacks and abilities that don't center around directly damaging the opponent." Answered the blond. "You should try to make use of those kinds of tactics as well as directly damaging your opponent."

That answer forced Brendan to think a little bit. His father had told him in the past to do better by making use of everything that his pokemon were capable of, but he never would've thought that there were more than a few ways to win other than directly attacking.

'I always thought that putting passion into the battle was more than enough.'

Being stuck in thought distracted Brendan from the fact that his companion had already walked into the forest. Once he came out of his thoughts he scrambled to catch up to her.

Inside of Petalburg woods was a somewhat frightening atmosphere,, with only a few paths that could determine a direction. Little light could penetrate through the trees and random noises echoed through the woods.

"Maybe those sounds came from an Ursaring or a Stantler." Proclaimed Brendan as if he wanted to battle with those pokemon.

Erica laughed a little at his demeanor. She knew full well that most pokemon around these parts were mostly docile. Very few were intensely fearsome. She decided to take lead through the forest.

Walking through the woods led the two of them to see many pokemon, mostly tiny red bugs called Wurmple. Brendan didn't pay much mind to them as he couldn't imagine how to fight alongside bug-type pokemon.

'Not much to those guys except tackling, which is already a little weak.' Thought the brunette, but his friend's advice from earlier suddenly came back to him.

'But I still don't see how my team has any other benefits besides-' A sudden feeling of something making contact with his shoe brought Brendan out of his thoughts.

Apparently while he was lost in thought, Brendan kicked a tiny pokemon over by accident. Guilt instantly washed over the protagonist, forcing him to help the little pokemon back up.

"Sorry about that, I wasn't paying attention." Apologized Brendan quickly. Erica turned around in curiosity at what she was hearing.

"Who are you talking to?" Brendan pointed to the pokemon below him. It was a Shroomish, basically a walking mushroom with a face and no arms.

After being put back on the ground in the right position, the Shroomish started to affectionately rub against Brendan's leg. This action left the brunette without words. He looked to his teacher for an answer to the affection. Her return was a happy laugh.

"It should be pretty obvious, that pokemon initially likes you. You should catch it." Her suggestion didn't sit well with him.

"Are you sure he's not trying to hurt me? I mean, his face did meet my foot." The blond shook her head with a happy smile.

Brendan sighed and pulled out his pokeball and tossed it down to the grass type. The capture device shook only a few times before the clicking that confirmed capture came.

"Alright! I think I'll name you...Apato!" Stated Brendan as he picked up the pokeball containing his new partner.

"Apato?" The name didn't really stick well with Erica.

"I think it sounds cool." Retorted Brendan quickly as he put the pokeball on his pokeball belt.

The two trainers continued to move through the forest to reach the other side. Often running into wild pokemon and random trainers, both of which would demand a battle of sorts.

Brendan was still stuck in his thoughts about what Erica had told him earlier, so he decided to watch her style of battle to better understand her bit of advice.

Erica was battling against a bug catcher that was mostly using Wurmple. The only pokemon battling alongside the blond was Amber.

"Use scratch from above!" Amber jumped up into the air and landed down onto the Wurmple's back and gave it one of the most painful massages in history.

"I'll never get famous if I lose like this." Grumbled the young trainer as he retrieved his defeated pokemon.

Erica walked over to the little trainer and gave him 500 poke instead of him having to pay her for losing. She continued to trek down the forest track with a baffled brunette behind her, and leaving behind a dazed bug catcher.

"Hold on Erica, why did you pay him? And why did you not use those tactics you mentioned earlier?" Questioned Brendan once they were out of earshot of the trainer.

"Well, he is just starting out on his journey. The money is to give him a little help, and I didn't use any indirect attacks because that would be unfair." Explained the blond.

Brendan wanted to say something in retaliation, but he couldn't as Erica couldn't be right. That trainer was about nine or so years old, much younger than himself.

'I guess that I still have a lot of things to learn.' Thought the protagonist as he put his arms up in a carefree manner.

"Help!" Both of the teenagers were brought out of their casual trekking.

Immediately, they both broke into sprints to get closer to the source of the sound. And unfortunately, they had to abandon the trail that had given direction to find whoever was calling for help.

The person screaming was a brown haired scientist trying to get away from a wild pokemon. The tiny creature that was chasing him was a grass-water type with a lily pad on top of its head. It quickly jumped up and slammed down the scientist.

"Ouch. Oh no!" When he was struck down, the scientist had apparently dropped a strange device.

"Why that little-" Brendan was getting ready to jump up and attack, but he was stopped when Erica pulled him back down.

"Hold on a sec. We need to stay out of sight" She pulled out her pokedex and used it to identify the pokemon as Lombre.

The poor scientist was stuck struggling to throw the pokemon off and get closer to the device. But he was cut off as some random person came out of nowwhere and took it away from him.

The person who took the device was some kind of grunt wearing torn shorts, a blue and white striped shirt, and a bandana that had some kind of an 'A' on it. Brendan was already gritting his teeth in anger, but it was Erica who was looking a little frustrated.

'I was coming to this region for a vacation, and I run into some kind of evil team. Irony at its best.' Thought the blond in an upset manner.

"Well this is just what we were looking for. Thanks, Devon Corp. scientist." Mocked the grunt as he picked up the device.

"Please! Give that back!" Begged the scientist as he continued to struggle under Lombre. The grunt just laughed a little at how this man was struggling so.

Brendan's anger was flaring and was clearly obvious on his face. His blond friend gave him a tap on the shoulder to gain his attention. When the flaring brunette looked over, he was met with silent nod.

Almost instantly, he jumped out of the hiding spot and ran to jump kick Lombre off of the scientist. The sudden action left both the grunt and his pokemon stunned long enough for Erica to help the scientist up.

"W-who are you!?" Stuttered the grunt as his pokemon waddled to his side. Instead of a verbal answer, Brendan pulled out a pokeball as a response.

"The guy who is going to defeat you." The brunette sent out his Vulpix first. "I'm counting on you, Natsumi."

As Erica was ushering the scientist to get away, she overheard her student's choice. Her only assumption was that he was going off of fire power (no pun intended).

'Baka, that is not going to work out well.'

"Natsumi, attack with ember." Tiny fires spewed out from the Vulpix and landed exactly on Lombre's head. Brendan expected super-effective damage, but was left with a mild damage at best.

"What, isn't that a grass type?"

"Heh heh, you really are an idiot. Lombre is a grass-water type. Use fury swipes!" Natsumi was left helpless as she was assaulted by a fury of sharp slashes.

"Quickly Natsumi, headbutt!" Seizing a last second chance, Natsumi slammed her head into Lombre. It did little damage and the fox fainted from exhaustion.

Brendan was forced to retrieve his old friend and send out Rin. He figured that her fangs could at least deal moderate damage.

"Rin, use fire fang!" The dark hound started to sprint towards her target to attack. But as she was getting closer, the grunt tossed his pokemon a leppa berry.

"Lombre, use natural gift!" Rin's face was met with a powerful fist that knocked her back a couple of feet.

The brunette's face grew in shock when he saw that move in action. He knew from training in Johto that Natural Gift would change depending on the berry being held by the user.

'A leppa berry must result in a fighting type move.'

Brendan retrieved his pokemon because he figured that he was just as stymied with Rin as he was with Natsumi. His Mudkip seemed like a good counter, but Aqua's water typing would leave him vulnerable to grass attacks.

'Dammit, what do I do?' Once again, Erica's advice seemed to be coming back to him. 'But I don't know how to use other tactics.'

The brunette was brought out of his thoughts by something shaking on his belt. Reaching over to pick it out, he was met with a feeling of confidence coming from Apato's pokeball.

"This feeling..." There was no mistaking it, this pokemon was urging Brendan to not give up. "Alright then, go Apato!"

When the tiny mushroom was launched, a face of slight shock appeared on the grunt. That face gave Brendan confidence in himself and Apato.

"Alright, use your tackle." Launching himself off the ground, the Shroomish nailed the face of Lombre. The grass/water type stumbled back a few feet as a result.

"Damn brat, use fury swipes!" Apato bravely stood his ground as he was assaulted by the sharp scratches.

The brunette pulled out his pokedex and read the roster of moves that Apato had. But to his surprise, the only two were tackle and something called stun spore.

'That last one doesn't sound like it'll do much damage.' He looked back up to see his partner get knocked over by Lombre. 'But if what Erica says is true, then I'll have to use it.'

"Apato, use stun spore!" The mushroom leaped back on his feet and puffed out a yellow powder on Lombre, who started twitching. It was paralyzed.

"W-what just happened?" Brendan immediately seized this opportunity.

"Quickly, use tackle." Apato once again launched himself into Lombre and defeated it with a critical hit.

The grunt stumbled back a few feet before throwing down a flash bomb to escape. Brendan tried to go after the grunt, but he failed almost immediately. When the light subsided, both the grunt and his pokemon had disappeared. The tiny device from earlier was still there, unscathed.

"Well done." That praise was immediately met with the sound of clapping hands. The hero turned around to see Erica and the scientist behind him.

"That was excellent. You used a status condition to your advantage." Praised the blond to her student, who blushed.

The scientist walked past the two and picked up the device that had been left behind by the grunt. He inspected it for a moment before his face turned to shock.

"Is something wrong?" Asked Erica while Brendan retrieved his pokemon.

"The schematics are gone! I had them in a SD card right next to the device!" Whined the scientist as he double searched the device.

"Oh, sorry about that." Apologized Brendan. The scientist handed both of them a gold nugget in thanks.

"You're efforts to save me and the device were more than enough, goodbye." He started towards the northern exit, the one that led to Rustboro city.

Even though the blond was happy for her friend's success, she was also caught up in the manner of who that man was. Her confidence didn't waver as she reminded herself of the events in Kalos.

'I know that I succeeded in defeating Team Flare. But something about this new team...something about them seems...intimidating.'

Brendan was so excited about his win that he didn't even notice that his friend was bearing a concentrated face. That is, until he look around to see her deep-in-thought face.

"Hey Erica, are you alright?" She turned over to him quickly when she heard her name.

"What?"

"I said, are you alright?" Repeated Brendan.

Once again, a blush spread across her face. This feeling of somebody being concerned for her reminded the blond girl of when she was with her teachers a year ago. Just knowing that Brendan would be with her gave her confidence in the situation ahead.

"Yeah, I'm just fine." Reassured Erica.

"Good, because I wouldn't want my friend getting sick in the middle of the woods." He pointed in the direction that the scientist walked towards. "Now let's head to Rustboro city!"

He could feel it. Brendan could feel the reassurance in himself by what his friends were giving him.

Thanks for reading this chapter, I hoped you liked it. If there is anything that you want to say about the story, please leave a guest review.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. If I did, Cloud Nine wouldn't be able to penetrate certain abilities.

"Speech"

'Thought'

In the last chapter of The ORAS Journey, Brendan and Erica traveled through Petalburg woods and encountered a grunt from a mysterious blue gang. And in his battle against said grunt, Brendan learned how to strategize in battle.

"I'm so glad that Apato pulled through for us." Said the brunette as he held up the pokeball.

"You're battle back there was pretty good." Commented the blond teacher. Her student turned around with an overconfident grin.

"Pretty good? How about super awesome?" Perhaps Brendan was getting a long nose as he walked backwards through the forest.

The confidence that was brimming from Brendan faded when his friend laughed and patted him on the head. A slightly upset look appeared on his face. But without turning around, Brendan tripped on a log behind him and fell on the ground.

Erica's hand was the next thing that he saw after hitting the grassy path.

"Your skills are improving, but I think that you still need some seasoning." Stated the blond as she helped Brendan up.

After a few more minutes of trekking through the woods and battling wild pokemon, the two reached the northern exit. From the other side of Route 104, Rustboro city was easier to spot.

The expression on Brendan's face could easily be described as excitement.

'It's just like Goldenrod City.' Thought Brendan. His expression changed to curiosity when he looked a bit to his left and saw a tiny shop that had some kind of floral design on the outer walls.

"What is that, a flower shop?" Asked the not-so-bright teenager. His teacher caught on to this question and followed the line of sight.

"I bet it is." Answered the girl with an interested face. Brendan was a little stymied by this sudden interest from his teacher.

"What is so interesting about a flower shop?" Erica turned over to him with a surprised face

"Don't you know that shops that like sell merchandise that can help grow berries?" Answered the blond quickly. But that answer did help much as Brendan was still stumped.

"Berries that help in battles." Explained Erica further. Brendan scratched his chin for a second before laughing a bit, leaving Erica to be stymied. "What's so funny?"

"Both my mom and my dad taught me that long ago. Can't believe I forgot." Explained the brunette through his laughter.

'Wonder if his father also taught him about indirect forms of battle.'

Walking north led the two trainers to a pond with a bridge to cross over. There were very few trainers to impede either trainer, which was good seeing as how they had very few pokemon still able to battle.

Brendan started to get an uneasy feeling that Erica had only one pokemon with her while he already had four. And despite that, she still gave off some kind of aura that made her stand out as a better trainer overall.

'I guess that she is just really skilled.' Thought the boy. 'But right now, I need to focus on the upcoming battle against Roxanne.'

Quickly, the boy turned around and began to walk backwards to face his teacher. "So, any advice about battling against Roxanne?"

"Well, my best guess is to do what you did with the grunt. Make sure that you consider typing and-Watch out!"

Brendan quickly realized by his teacher's warning that he was about to walk off of the bridge. On instinct, the blond grabbed her friend's hand and pulled him backwards. But the combined weight of the two forced Brendan to topple over Erica, putting the two in an awkward situation.

Despite it being awkward, neither of them moved. They were both clearly able to see their blushing faces.

"Uh-dI-sa..." Stuttered Brendan whilst his face quickly turned crimson from embarrassment.

"...G-Get off!" Yelled Erica with a red face as she pushed Brendan off.

After hitting the bridge, he quickly turned away from her with an extremely red face. The blond girl just sat down with an extremely embarrassed face.

"Sorry about that." Apologized Brendan quickly. Erica looked back at him with a slightly upset face.

"...It was an accident, so don't let it happen again." She got back up on her feet and, with her dignity still intact, continued towards Rustboro city. Brendan followed after her.

The city of Rustboro was a fairly large city, many of the buildings in the city had signs in front of them. Every sign had a symbol that resembled a capital 'd'.

Even though he saw them, Brendan didn't pay any attention to those signs. At that moment he was looking for a sign for the gym or the building itself.

"Alright, where is that gym at?" Questioned the brunette as he looked right and left. He was stopped by a hand grabbing his shirt collar.

"Hold on there Manetric." Said Erica as she let go of the shirt collar. "Let's go to the Pokémon Center and get our pokemon healed."

Even though his passion for battling was great, Brendan couldn't bring himself to put his pokemon through much if he knew that they couldn't handle it. He had little choice but to agree with his teacher.

The pokemon center was located fairly close to the center of the city, making it a little easier to spot out for our protagonists. Whilst he was waiting for his pokemon to be healed, Brendan was looking at a map for the city.

"I think that the gym is right over here." Said the brunette as he pointed to a certain point on the map. He noticed another special location right next to it. "And a pokemon school is right next to it."

"You might want to breeze by there and take a look at the books there." Suggested the blond girl as she walked over holding her Torchic. "It might help you in your battle against Roxanne."

Somewhere in that suggestion, Brendan knew that Erica was saying that he wasn't that bright.

"I'm going to go out for a little bit, we can meet back here later." She left the pokemon center with her only pokemon to venture around. Despite that it made sense that he should at least take a look at some of the books, the brunette still felt a little offended.

"Brendan Kobushi, your pokemon are ready." Said Nurse Joy as she walked up to the counter carrying the pokeballs. Brendan ran over and picked up the pokeballs.

"Thanks." He took the pokeballs and walked out of the center. Shortly after exiting, Brendan noticed the trainer school nearby.

'Ok, just a quick look at the ethics of battling. How bad can it be?'

The blond teenager continued to explore the giant city. If she had not been on vacation from big battles, she would be competing with her companion to find the gym.

"But I am on vacation." Said the blond out loud to nobody in particular.

As she was walking towards the northern side of Rustboto city, more of those interesting 'd' signs appeared. Erica's curiosity couldn't allow her to overlook it.

'I don't think that they are related to that team from earlier. That grunt had a different symbol.' Thought Erica. The memories of her previous adversaries came back to her as she thought more about it.

'Please don't let them be like Team Flare.'

Thinking about battling against another team blocked the veteran's thoughts from were she was going. Her walk had led her to a large building with the 'd' symbol above the entrance. The size made it easy for Erica to spot.

"I guess this must be the headquarters, but what are the intentions of this company?" Cupping her chin, the girl began to brainstorm for an answer.

"Help!" A loud scream echoed towards the protagonist.

'Deja vu...' Erica looked towards the source of the sound.

This time, she didn't need to chase it through anything, because the person crying for help was nearby. Another scientist was being robbed, this time by some person wearing red. Erica's instincts pressed her to go help him.

"Are you ok?" Asked the blond as she helped up the scientist.

"I'm fine, but I need to get those parts back from that man."

The man in red was running east of the city, towards an exit. Even if she only had Amber with her, the blond figured that she and her pokemon could handle one grunt.

'After all, can't ask Brendan for help.' Thought Erica as she began to give chase.

Speaking of Brendan, he was currently reading a couple of books to get prepped for his battle. Needless to say, he felt out of place in the school. Because many of the people there were much younger than him.

'But still, I need to prep up.' He picked up a book that had a yellow cover on it.

'Let's see, paralysis greatly decreases a pokemon's speed but doesn't work on electric or ground types.' Read Brendan in his thoughts as he held the textbook. 'Erica was right, there really is a lot to look into about a single battle.'

Putting the book back onto the shelf, the brunette prepared to go challenge the gym leader. But as he was about to reach the exit, a large group of toddlers literally ran him over.

"What was that for?" Croaked Brendan. He looked over to where the toddlers were and saw that they were surrounding some woman.

Said woman was a brunette with her hair tied in pigtails that somehow worked pigtails into it. She was wearing a some kind of black and white school uniform with red leggings. She was surrounded by children who were asking her questions.

"Alright children, settle down. I use rock types in official battles. So if you want to challenge me, keep that in mind." Said the woman as she held up a pokeball.

'Rock types...official battles.' Thought Brendan before he got back up on his feet.

"Gym leader Roxanne." Said Brendan at a loud enough volume. The brunette woman looked over to him when she heard that name.

"Yes?" Her response confirmed the challenger's suspicions.

"My name is Brendan Kobushi, I want to challenge you to a battle." Brendan's challenge announcement came across loud and clear.

Roxanne eyes widened a bit at hearing that name. But she then gave a small laugh and brushed the side of her hair.

"Very well then, follow me." Said the gym leader ignoring the masses of children who wanted to battle her.

Both the brunettes left the building and walked towards the yellow roofed building known as a Pokémon Gym. The interior was decorated to look like a museum, with many exhibits protected by the glass and a few that were displayed on the walls.

As Brendan walked into the gym, he expected a couple of gym aids to get in his way, but none were around. He felt the need to ask Roxanne for an answer.

"Don't you usually have trainers to battle against me?" In response, the scholarly brunette gave another short laugh.

"I'd look a little closer if I were you."

Brendan didn't initially understand what she was talking about till he really did look around and noticed several people holding pokeballs that were hiding around the glass exhibits. He took a defensive stance while Roxanne continued her walk.

"You'll have to defeat them to get to me. Good luck."

'We don't need luck.' The challenger pulled out a pokeball and rushed towards his competitors.

Even though she was not one to run on a regular basis, Erica was doing good to catch up with that grunt from earlier. The thief had run through Route 116, which would lead straight into a cave.

"Logic would dictate that he went into there." Whispered the heroine. A sign stood near the entrance to the cave that stated the name as Rusturf Tunnel and that it was still under construction.

"That might trap him and give me an advantage."

Rusturf tunnel's interior wasn't much to behold. Gray texture rocks combined with the fog gave a small sense of fear. Erica moved through the cave carefully to avoid any traps. But it didn't take long before she came upon the grunt.

"Crap, I thought I got away from you." Cursed the grunt, who was much easier for the heroine to identify.

This grunt was different than the other, he was wearing a red hood over dark red sleeves. The rim of the hood had horns and a capital 'm' was spread across the center. Behind the grunt a white and blue bird pokemon was cowering in a cage.

'This guy is different than that other one. Stealing pokemon and machines.' On instinct, the grunt released his Poochyena to attack Erica.

"You won't stop me!" Yelled the grunt in defense. In quick response, the blond threw out Amber. The dark hound immediately charged in to attack.

"Quick, use sand attack." Amber stomped her foot into the ground, which blinded the pooch. "And use ember!"

The grunt's face grew upset at how quickly his opponent responded. "Poochyena, use howl."

With a loud howling, the pooch increased its attack stat for the battle. But it wouldn't be enough to win.

"Use ember again!" Tiny fires flew out and defeated the opponent.

"D-Damn you. This isn't over!" He threw down a flash bomb and quickly escaped while the heroine and her pokemon covered their eyes.

When the light cleared, Erica could clearly see a suitcase and the pokemon that was in the cage. Before she returned her partner, Erica opened the cage and released the captive pokemon inside. After which, she opened the suitcase to see many high-tech gear protected by foam.

'This looks like Christmas to Keith.' As she inspected them carefully, she noticed that one indent in the foam was left empty. 'Crap, he got away with a part.'

The blond champion pulled the pokeball and returned Amber so she could rest. Moments after, the other pokemon flew by and sat on her head. And only a few moments sooner, an elderly man rushed into the cave.

"Peeko!" Screamed the man happily. The bird on Erica's head also squealed happily and flew over to the man. "Oh I thought that I wouldn't get to see you again!"

Even though this interruption was quick and sudden, the blond still found it to be a warming reunion scene. The elderly man turned to her with a happy and grateful face.

"Sorry for the sudden rush, I am Captain Briney. This Wingull is my friend, Peeko." Introduced the man.

"I'm Erica Tamashii." Introduced the girl in response. The old man's face then turned to one of interrogation

"Did you happen to see where that red man went to?"

"No sir, he got away." Erica didn't like that the grunt got away, and with a piece of stolen property no less. Mr. Briney however, could've cared less that the man got away.

"Oh, that's alright. Thank you for saving Peeko for me. I live on Route 104, come by if you need a boat ride!" Said the man as he waved off.

Ambivalent feelings began to take over Erica after the sailor and Wingull left. She was indeed happy that the grunt was caught and defeated, but now he had a stolen part. And on top of that, this meant that their were two ambitious teams that she would have to deal with.

An exhausted sigh escaped from her lips.

"And I thought this was supposed to be a vacation."

Back at the Rustboro gym, Brendan had succeeded in defeating the gym aides and getting closer to Roxanne, who was reading a book. Walking up a staircase led the challenger to a platform where the gym leader was waiting for him.

"You certainly took some time." Noted Roxanne as she closed her book and pulled out a handbag.

"Not easy defeating trainer after trainer." Retorted Brendan.

The woman laughed at how he sounded. Reaching into the handbag, Roxanne pulled out a pokeball and walked to the right side of the platform. Brendan understood what was going on moved to the other side of the platform and pulled out a pokeball.

"I, Brendan Kobushi, challenge you!" Yelled the brunette as he threw his first pokeball, releasing Apato.

Roxanne launched her first pokeball as well, releasing a floating boulder with arms. The common first gen rock, Geodude.

"Yosh! Apato, use leech seed." Commanded Brendan. Tiny seeds shot out of Apato's head and landed on Geodude, which would start to drain energy. "And use stun spore!"

The Mushroom Pokémon scurried over and readied to puff the power onto bulky rock type. But the gym leader had a plan in mind.

"Geodude, use magnitude!" Said Roxanne quickly. Following the commande, Geodude slammed its fist into the ground. The miniature earthquake threw off the Shroomish's balance, forcing the stun spore to miss.

"And now use rock tomb!" Geodude pulled out bits of the ground and launched them towards Apato, trapping him as a result. "Now tackle from above."

Brendan's face clearly showed panic as the rock type homed in on his grass type, but he kept calm inside for a counter.

"Apato, use mega drain!" Opening his mouth, the Shroomish began to steal energy from the Geodude quickly. The rock type collapsed to the ground, too much energy was drained from the leech seed to survive the mega drain.

Roxanne quickly retrieved her partner gave an understanding smile. She was happy with the efforts her pokemon put forth. With her second pokeball in hand, Roxanne threw out a rock statue with a giant nose. A Nosepass was sent as her ace.

"Apato, use stun spore!" Instead of running over and spraying spore on Nosepass, Apato jumped up to paralyze the opponent.

"Nosepass, use thunder wave!" The statue turned around and launched an electric wave that paralyzed Apato. Brendan was a little surprised at how his on strategy was used against him. Roxanne smirked at the upper hand.

"Use tackle!" Nosepass charged forth and impacted Apato, knocking him back a couple of feet.

"Apato, use mega drain!" Commanded the brunette, but his pokemon didn't attack as paralysis stopped it from doing so. "Crap, not now."

"Quickly Nosepass, use fire punch!" Brendan was caught off guard as his pokemon was met with a fiery fist. Apato rolled over a few feet before fainting from the super effective attack.

The challenger pulled his partner back as he thought about a counter to the situation. At that moment, his water type seemed like the best solution.

"Go, Aqua!" Throwing the pokeball released the Mudkip for battle.

"Use water gun!" Brendan immediately took advantage of type as his pokemon sprayed Nosepass in an attempt to immediately defeat it. But the statue still held on despite the attack.

'But how?' Thought the protagonist. He was stumped for a few seconds before he realized why. 'It didn't use an item, so an ability must've allowed it to survive the attack.'

Roxanne took note of the confusion that was spread across her opponent's face. She almost seemed satisfied by it. 'It may be short, but my pokemon and I are enjoying this battle.' Thought the gym leader as she readied for the next attack.

"Nosepass, use thunder wave!" Brendan's pokemon was once again paralyzed by an electric wave, leaving it prone to an attack. But that wouldn't be enough to stop him from trying.

"Aqua, use water gun again!" The Mudkip tried, but he was caught by paralysis.

"Hit him with tackle!" The brunette's face shifted to slight panic as the Nosepass rapidly approached Aqua.

But suddenly, before the impact could occur, Nosepass stopped. Everyone was shocked at how this was happening, even the scholarly brunette was caught off. Only a few moments passed before she figured out why.

'My partner is paralyzed.'

Brendan's surprised face shifted to a serious, ready face. He looked over to Aqua, who now shared the same look.

"Now Aqua! Use mud slap!" With one few swipe through the ground, the water type slammed his muddy fin into the Nosepass. The compass pokemon skidded a few feet before it fainted.

Brendan Kobushi had won his first gym battle. He ran over to Aqua and picked up his partner. Roxanne returned her pokemon and also gave a grateful smile, because she couldn't deny that she and her pokemon enjoyed that battle.

"Congrats Brendan. Here's the Stone Badge." Roxanne walked over to him and handed the victor his spoils. His already happy face became even more exhilarated.

"Thanks a bunch Roxanne!" Yelled the teenager as he rushed out the gym carrying Aqua.

The gym leader stood in the same spot for a few moments before laughing and pulling back out the same book from earlier.

'I shouldn't have expected any less from a Kobushi.' Thought the woman as she looked back at the cover.

The book was titled, 'The Passionate Fist', and it was by Norman Kobushi.

Thanks for reading this chapter, hoped you liked it. If you want to say anything on the subject, please leave a guest review. In the next chapter, Brendan and Erica meet with the Devon Corp. President and take on an additional task in their journey.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. If I did, I'd have my own easter egg somewhere in the game...somewhere.

"Speech"

'Thought'

In the last chapter, Brendan and Erica reached Rustboro city. And Brendan's passion led him and his pokemon to a gym battle in which they won. Whilst her companion took on the gym challenge, Erica chased a red cloaked man who seemed to be stealing parts from a scientist.

And even though both trainers made skilled accomplishments, they would have more problems on their hands in the near future.

"This is so awesome." Commented Brendan as he held up the badge. "I am so glad that we won."

While he was waiting for his pokemon to get healed, the brunette decided to take a few moments to savor in the victory. Too bad for him that the spoils of victory would ultimately lead to him getting a swollen head.

'Dad did say that Roxanne is who I should beat before battling him.' He placed the badge away and walked over to the counter to pick up his pokemon.

'Maybe I should see what Erica has to say about this, she might agree with me.' Thought the protagonist confidently as he walked out of the center.

Erica walked back to the large building where the scientist from earlier was waiting. In her left hand, she was carrying the briefcase that was holding the parts that the grunt attempted to steal. When the scientist saw her approach with the briefcase, he quickly ran over to her (practically sprinted).

"Oh thank you so much for this. I don't know how I could repay you!" Graciously thanked the man as Erica handed back the briefcase.

"You might not want to, that guy got away with one of the parts." Admitted the blond heroine. She was not one to take credit where it was not due.

After hearing that confession, the scientist panicked and quickly opened the briefcase to inspect it. The teenager's face was very nervous about failing in the slightest, but it subsided when the scientist calmed down.

"Nothing to worry about, you only lost the pressure resistance interface." The scientist closed the briefcase and regained his composure. "If you didn't retrieve the entire case, Devon Corp. would've lost 50,000,000 Poke."

Hearing the number one million alone could surprise the champion, but hearing that number times fifty would cause her to nearly have a heart attack. Even if it wasn't hers.

'That's...a lot of money.' A few strands of blond hair were out of place on her head. A few moments passed before Erica caught on to what the man said.

"What exactly is the Devon Corp.?" That inquiry gave the scientist a slightly surprised face.

"You're not from around here, are you? Devon Corp. produces technology for the entire Hoenn region." Answered the scientist.

'So that's it huh? They might be producing and distributing technology to all the people who live around here.' Thought Erica. 'I guess that the 'd' is there logo.'

"If you wouldn't mind, I'm sure that our company's president would like to thank you for this." Requested the scientist.

Initially that seemed like an appropriate action to Erica, but she hadn't forgotten what had happened in Petalburg woods earlier. After all, she was only the second person to save a Devon Corp. employee today.

"Not that I don't appreciate the offer, but I need to go get my friend first. Can you wait for a bit?" Asked the girl with a half nervous face. Luckily for her, the man nodded to wait patiently.

"Hey! Erica!" Yelled Brendan.

In response to the loud sound, the girl turned her head south to see her companion running down the streets with an exhilarated face. Seeing his face like that with his fast movement made it easy for Erica to tell what had happened. Only about a couple of seconds could pass before Brendan reached her.

"You will never guess what just happened." Once again, the brunette's overconfidence was showing.

"Victory against Roxanne?" Answered the blond champion quickly and confidently in return.

Erica's quick and witty answer scored a critical hit. The boy's confidence quickly dimmed and he scratched the back of his head while laughing nervously a little.

"How did you know?"

"I had the same look when I won my first gym battle. Now come with us into the building." She grabbed his wrist and dragged him into the Devon Corp. building.

Although Brendan wanted to protest against this sudden action, he was still a little caught off guard by his friend's quick perception. By the time he had already gotten himself together, they were already walking through the lobby.

The lobby stood out for one sole feature to Brendan, displaying fossils right under the floor. Fascination overtook him, preventing the boy from moving at all. And prompting Erica to drag him by the wrist again.

"So what are we doing in here?" Asked the brunette while he walked up the stairs and regained his wrist and conscious state.

"Remember what happened in the forest? Well, the person we saved works for this company and their president wants to give thanks to us for it." Answered Erica after letting go of Brendan's wrist.

The next two floors consisted of nothing that caught the passionate brunette's attention. Most of the square feet were occupied by desks, and employees who were consulting ideas with each other. The scientist who was guiding the two broke off on the third floor.

"I need to handle something important. A message has been sent, so the president should be expecting you already." Brendan and Erica understood and kept trekking up to the fourth floor of the building.

"The president wants to thank us for only that little save?" It made sense to Brendan that the action he took earlier didn't seem big enough for this.

"While you were battling Roxanne, I chased down another thief who was about to get away with more equipment." Explained the blond. Knowing more of the story enlightened the incredulous boy.

The top floor of the building was were the president's office was. A very large room, the center contained a large table that had the same fossil design as the floor in the lobby. At the end of the office the president sat at his desk.

"Ah you must be the trainers that helped out in Petalburg woods." Greeted the president upon seeing both of them. He stood up and walked over to shake their hands.

"I am President Stone of the Devon Corporation." Introduced the man during the shaking of the hands.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Brendan Kobushi. And this is my friend, Erica Tamashii." Said Brendan as he shook the older man's hand.

As the blond girl shook the hand of Mr. Stone, she was able to get a better look at him and noticed how his hair was slightly (and oddly) spiked up. His gray hair was easily reflected by how he wore a dark suit.

"I must thank you for saving our employee in the nearby forest. And from the message I received, you did well in protecting valuable equipment."

The president walked back to sit at his desk, prompting his guests to sit in the chairs that lied in front of the desk. An exhausted sigh escaped from Mr. Stone as he adjusted his tie.

"Honestly, it has been a pressuring day. I was so relieved to learn that the parts for our new technology had made it safely." Still feeling incredulous, Brendan had to ask.

"Sir, not that I don't respect this formal appreciation, but why did you decided to thank us personally?" Asked the boy.

His companion let out an exhausted sigh, thinking that her explanation from earlier was good enough. On the other hand, Mr. Stone seemed glad to oblige with an answer.

"Well you see, the combined worth of the devices that you two saved today is over 50,000,000 Poke." Once again, hearing that number used for money nearly sent Erica over the edge. "And we need the majority of that equipment for building new technological merchandise."

Even though the last part made sense to Brendan, he was still caught on the fact that so much money was put into the little equipment. He suddenly started to feel small at the idea of so much money.

'That's more than I'll ever make in my life.' Thought the brunette with a bit of sweat. Mr. Stone stood up from his desk and overlooked the city below.

"It makes me wonder what the Hoenn region would be like if we didn't succeed in getting the technology we needed today." He turned back to the heroes with a gracious smile. "So I'd like to repay you in some way for your heroic deeds."

Enthusiasm was coursing throughout Brendan's entire body. Only recently starting off his journey and so many lucky things were happening to him today. However, the boy was getting some kind of odd feeling when he turned to Erica. It almost felt like disapproval.

"Not that we don't appreciate it, but the devices weren't fully retrieved." Said the girl as she spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Asked the president as his gracious smile broke into a questioned face.

"When Brendan fought in the forest, he didn't succeed in retrieving an SD card that had information of the device. And I didn't succeed in getting one item back."

At first her companion wanted to tell her otherwise, but he couldn't deny the point she had made. If they were not successful in a full rescue, then there was no sense going about the reward with no humility.

"She's right sir. We don't deserve too high of praise for our efforts." Admitted Brendan with closed eyes.

President Stone didn't know what to make of this. These two people went through some trouble to get back the equipment for his corporation, and yet they decided to show humility and not accept an award.

'Reminds me of my son.' Thought the old man nostalgically. At that moment, Brendan stood from his chair with a somewhat determined face.

"Sir, is there anything that we can do to repay the device and data that we didn't retrieve?" Requested the Brunette, surprising both his teacher and Mr. Stone.

Rubbing his chin, the old man sat back down as he tried to think of a solution. An idea came to him after a few seconds and he reached into his coat pocket to pull out a letter.

"If you want to repay us, the please deliver this to a man named Steven in Dewford Town." Stated the President as he held out the envelope.

Erica stood up out of her chair and took the letter from the old man's hand. She had already decided that she wanted to repay Devon Corp. before Brendan even suggested the idea.

"And where exactly is this town?" Asked the blond.

"You'll find it to the south of Petalburg woods. Keep in mind that you'll need to travel over water." Mentioned the elderly man, surprising the brunette that they'd have to cross water.

"Wait wha-"

"We'll take care of it sir." Said Erica as she cut off Brendan.

The blond trainer stood up and exited the room. Her companion stood in same spot for a couple of seconds before excusing himself from the room as well. It didn't take long before he caught up to her.

Exiting the large Devon Corp. building revealed that the time had passed the afternoon. Brendan's mind was busy trying to figure out why Erica was so lenient to the idea of crossing over the ocean. He was also a little upset at how she didn't consult him on the subject.

"Say Erica, why did you agree to go to Dewford town?" Asked the boy. To respond, his companion turned around with a slightly surprised face.

"Well I figured that you could use another gym battle. There should be one there. It will give you and your pokemon more experience against your dad." Responded Erica.

Her answer hurt him a little bit as he was already very confident from earlier. But despite the logical answer, he tried to respond with logic in turn.

"But...we don't had any means to get there." Stated the brunette.

"Don't worry, I have a couple of ways to get across the ocean. I'll make sure to get you to another gym battle." Responded the blond girl. "But for now, lets get some lunch."

Erica returned to her path and walked in the direction that led to the Pokémon Center and hopefully some restaurants. Brendan stood still for a couple of seconds, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the gym badge. Staring at it seemed to be the only thing he could do.

'Maybe...maybe I was in over my head.' Thought the boy before he ran to catch up with his friend.

After a quick lunch in which the trainers and their pokemon enjoyed Rustboro fast food, they began to backtrack through the Petalburg woods. Both of the trainers knew that they would need to get to the ocean on the other side of the woods before crossing it.

"You know, I bet that there was another way if we went north instead of south." Suggested the brunette as he pushed a branch out of his face.

"Yeah, we might've found some way." The blond jumped over a log and quickly dodged a branch. "But I met somebody on the other side who can help us."

'Met somebody? When did this happen?' Thought Brendan as he was hit on the shoulder by a branch.

Getting back to the ocean side of Route 104 was easier the second time around. That was because of the fact that there were many slopes for the trainers to exploit for less time. As the two exited from the forest, they noticed that it was getting close to dusk.

"Time is starting to move against us." Stated Brendan as he looked up to the dimming sky.

Erica walked over to the nearby house from earlier, she glanced at the mailbox in front of it and smiled a little. Turning around to her companion, she waved her hand to signal him to come over.

"There is a man who lives here that I helped out earlier, he can take us to Dewford on his boat." Her hand knocked against the door three times.

A few more moments passed before the door opened and Mr. Briney came out of it. His curious and indifferent face instantly shifted to one of joy.

"Well, if it isn't the girl who saved Peecko earlier today." He reached out and began to shake Erica's hand rapidly. When he let go of her hand he noticed Brendan with her. "And who might this be?"

"I'm Brendan Kobushi sir. I travel with Erica." Answered the brunette who was equally happy to meet somebody so cheerful.

Mr. Briney laughed and began to shake Brendan's hand in the same rapid motion. Now Brendan knew how other people felt when he did that, but maybe the enthusiasm wasn't such a bad thing.

"Mr. Briney, I know this may be sudden, but can you take us to Dewford town?" Asked the blond. The bearded man showed a bit of surprise as he let go of Brendan.

"I'd be happy to oblige, but why so suddenly?" Inquired the elderly man. To give a better answer, Erica pulled out the letter she got from President Stone.

"We need to deliver this to somebody in Dewford town, and he needs to visit the gym there." Answered the girl as she pointed to her companion.

Like any man with facial hair, Mr. Briney rubbed his beard as he pondered over the subject. He did owe Erica for saving Peecko, but he also didn't want to have to anchor in Dewford for the night.

"Oh well, a promise is a promise." He turned back to the interior of his house.

"Peecko, get ready to set sail!" The tiny seagull pokemon flew out and landed on Mr. Briney's shoulder.

Seventeen minutes was the amount of time it took Mr. Briney to prepare the boat for sailing. Give or take about a minute with the help of Brendan and Erica. The time that had passed led them near the sunset.

The setting sun made the normally deep blue water into a dazzling array of blue, orange, and yellow. An expression spread across Brendan's face that made him look very amazed and happy. Erica had seen things like this before, so she could only slightly smile graciously.

Brendan's gaze traced over to Erica and he noticed how the sunset looked with her blocking it. Slight streaks of light helped to enhance her charm so much that he just couldn't bring himself to look away. Time around him slowed down so much that he couldn't hear anything at all. Part of him wanted it to not stop.

'But...but why do I feel this way?' His cheeks started to blush.

"You alright?" The brunette was brought out of his trance when his teacher began to talk to him. "You don't have a fever, do you?"

"Uh...No! No, I was just admiring the sunset, that's all." Quickly Explained Brendan as he looked in the other direction. Luckily for him, she bought the quickly formed excuse.

"Ok then. But feel free to tell me if you are." Offered the blond as she looked back to the ocean.

"...Thank you." Whispered Brendan under his breath. He didn't really need to do much as the loud roars of the boat engine did well to disguise his voice.

It didn't take long for the boat to dock in Dewford. As they dismounted, the two trainers thanked Mr. Briney for the trip. To which he was more than happy to oblige.

"I'll come back tomorrow to help get you kids back to Route 104." Announced the sailor before turning his ship back around to sail back.

Since it was so late, both trainers decided that it would be best to check in for the night and rest in the pokemon center. Evening rolled over and both trainers had gotten into bed for some well deserved rest. But despite his efforts to sleep, Brendan was still pondering his feelings from earlier.

'...Why...why do I feel this admiration for Erica?' Thought Brendan before giving in to sleep.

Thank you for reading this chapter, hoped you liked it. Please feel free to leave a guest review for your opinion. In the next chapter, Brendan takes on the Dewford gym leader in a fight of fists. And Erica ventures into Granite Cave to find the man that she had heard of in pop culture magazines.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Pokémon is not under my control. I don't own it, and I never will...is anyone actually reading this?

"Speech"

'Thought'

_'Printed Text'_

Unova is a region that is far removed from any other region in the pokemon world. As such, it has its own unique variety of pokemon. Being detached from many of the other regions pits it in another time zone altogether.

Undella city was located on the north-eastern side of Unova and is well known for its abundant beach. Quite literally, it is one of the perfect summer vacation spots.

Sitting under an umbrella was a fifteen year old, short haired brunette girl with deep violet eyes. She was wearing a blue and white bikini and in her hands was a book titled, _'The Gray Adventure Part 2'_. After a few more minutes of reading, she yawned and put the book in her purse.

"Oh, I really want to know how the relationship for Nate and Rosa turns out." Commented the girl as she stretched herself out.

"Well you did dress as her for a while, didn't you?" The teen brunette turned to her left to see a black haired sixteen year old wearing black and yellow trunks walking over to her. His appearance was cloaked by a pair of shades. "You did look like her when I met you."

"Rosa's appearance really sparked to me, but don't forget her eyes are blue while mine are violet."

"Don't worry Kate, I never will."

He began to walk back to the water and took off his sunglasses, revealing both his dark brown eyes and his identity. The Blazing Fighter, Brett Tairyoku. He took a look up at the blue sky and the fluffy clouds that populated it.

"Sure is a nice day isn't it?" Asked Kate as she walked over and latched herself onto Brett.

Kate Kokoro was a trainer from Unova but traveled around the world to different regions. It seemed that at that moment she and Brett were spending quality time together.

"It sure is. I'm also really glad that its just the two of us." Pointed out the black-haired trainer. His girlfriend let go of his arm and pointed in the opposite direction.

Following the direction in which she was pointing led him to see a Glaceon and an Umbreon playing with each other on the sand. Brett laughed a little and scratched the back of his head.

"Oh yeah. I kind of forgot that they were here." Kate suddenly got close to him and started to mutter something.

"Y'know, I wouldn't have minded if you asked that Erica girl to come as well." Whispered the girl.

"Nonsense. I owe you this time." He looked back over the horizon of the ocean with a slightly curious face. "Besides, I get the feeling that she is busy with something."

Speaking of the blond haired champion. At the moment, she was sleeping in her rented room with Brendan in Dewford town. Separately of course. A few more hours passed by before the light from the sunrise started to penetrate the shade of the night.

Brendan was, once again, waking up pretty quickly at the sun penetrating the window to wake them up. This time however, he tried to be sneaky and not wake up Erica. First attempt, tippy toeing out of the room.

"Not going to work Brendan." Announced the sleepy teenage girl.

"How do you do that? You wake up like a robot starting up." Questioned the brunette at the odd waking habits of his teacher. She rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes while thinking of an answer.

"Well, I usually wake up around sunrise anyway. So you getting out of bed is bound to be a reinforcer in the process."

That answer seemed to make sense to Brendan, but he was still amazed at how she was able to perceive just what exactly he was trying to do. It only seemed logical that she would wake up around the same time every day, but being perceptive like that was something else.

'I guess that just comes with being in tuned with pokemon battling. I've gotta become like that if I'm going to beat Dad.' Thought the brunette with a determined face.

But that determined face was showing and was very visible to the other occupant in the room. Erica was a little puzzled as to why he was like that, till she came to the wrong conclusion.

'He'd better not be thinking about peeping when I change into my travel clothes.' Her arms were crossed over her chest whilst she let out a slightly upset growl.

Instead of taking up on the opportunity that most boys his age would do, Brendan was focusing on how to attain such a perception in such a short time. But unfortunately, he wouldn't find any answers to his dilemma.

During breakfast, the boy's curiosity on that certain skill got the best of him. Once again, he would have to probe his teacher with a question on how to get stronger as a pokemon trainer.

"Erica, I'm curious on how you developed that kind of perception." Stated Brendan after scarfing the fourth pancake. The blond, who was giving birdseed to her pokemon, gave him an incredulous look.

"Are you trying to find a quick way around it?" Intuition led to a bull's-eye, confirmed by her student's nod. "Well, there really is no pattern to follow for developing it. After a series of battles and training, you'll develop that kind of perception." She picked up a cup of coffee and began sipping it.

The answer she gave was logical, but logic and delayed rewards wouldn't work for Brendan. His impatience was too much, but not enough to be demanding.

"Can you tell me how long it took you to get this good?" Erica stopped sipping her coffee and looked upwards to conjure an answer.

"Lets see...I think it was...about a seven months before I could control it."

'Over half a year!? How long would it take me then!?' Screamed the brunette in his head while he narrowly avoided choking on pancake number five.

Breakfast seemed to pass by quickly for both of the trainers. It was probably faster for Brendan since he wanted to challenge the gym as quickly as possible. So after they cleaned everything up, he bolted towards the gym. This was easily done as the gym had an identical appearance to the last one.

"Alright, time to do this!" With a confident heart, and powerful partners, Brendan tried to pry open the doors of the gym. But he had no such luck doing so. "What? Come on, open!"

Erica wanted to take a short walk on the beach and enjoy the views. But after seeing her companion in such a state, she just had to help him out. Walking over to the door, she noticed a crucial detail that Brendan had apparently missed.

"Uh, Brendan? The gym is closed." Said the blond as she pointed out the sign on the door.

The challenger's eyes darted up to see what time it would open and slouched down when he saw it.

"So I'll have to wait till 12:30 before I can challenge the gym leader?" Questioned the brunette with his broken vigor.

It might've only been about 11:53, but that still would be a while to him. The blond giggled a little bit at her friend's attitude.

"I suggest that you and your pokemon practice if you want to kill some time. I'm going to find whoever this Steven guy is." She pulled out the letter indicating that she was about to carry out the errand for Devon Corp..

"Alright then, good luck finding him." Brendan turned towards the eastern shore to go train with his pokemon.

With two pokeballs in each of his hands, he released all his pokemon out onto the beach. Every one of them was surprised at this sudden action. Aqua and Apato were carefully analyzing each other, while Rin and Natsumi were glaring each other down.

"Alright, I know that there is a lot to catch up on. But right now, I need to train with all of you." Luckily they stopped all of their actions at hearing their trainer.

"So, how do you guys want to go about this?" Almost instantly after that, Rin tackled Natsumi to the ground and they began to struggle against each other.

The boys stood by awkwardly at the sight of this, uh...dogfight. Brendan scratched his head with a look crossed between satisfaction and nervousness.

"Well, I guess that's one good way to train."

Searching for a guy that one had little to no idea about was something that proved to be difficult at best. And Erica's best guess was to start at the pokemon center, seeing as how so many people would have to go there.

"Excuse me, nurse." The nurse at the counter turned to see who was asking for her attention.

"Have you heard anything about a guy named Steven?" Almost instantly, Nurse Joy knew.

"Oh yes! That dream boat was heading for Granite Cave. Just go to the northern shore." Quickly explained the woman. As Erica left the center, she was a little flabbergasted at the nurse's reaction.

'Well, that was a little more than odd.'

The directions of the nurse were very precise as the cave that Erica was looking for was pretty much north of the center of the island. Having a sign in front of the cave made it even easier to find for Erica.

"Hopefully this won't be too bad." Grunted the blond as she ventured into the cave. The cave was filled with stalactites that would give travelers a sense of nervousness, however the girl traveling into the cave was only slightly concerned with it.

Walking about ten meters into Granite Cave showed their to be two different paths to be taken. One of the paths could only be accessed by what looked like loose gravel, prompting Erica to take the alternate path that led below sea level.

On the other side of the island, Brendan continued his training with his pokemon. Even though he was still a bit of a novice, his skills were still proving to be somewhat good.

"Alright!" He tossed a stone high into the air, and his patient Mudkip stood by. "Use mud slap...now!"

Aqua gathered sand with his tail, jumped, and slapped his tail fin into the stone. They both eagerly watched as it flew across the ocean.

"Awesome! Great work you guys." He turned to all his pokemon, who were a little more than worn out. "Do you guys want to rest up for a bit?"

Strangely in response, they all shook their heads to show denial. Seeing the same kind of determination that he had coming from his pokemon made Brendan pretty happy.

"Well, if you guys don't want to give in, we'll go take on the gym. But you guys need to get healed first." He pulled out all the pokeballs and returned his pokemon.

While he walked back to the pokemon center, an unpleasant thought found its way into his consciousness. A thought that gives almost every living being irritation.

'Crap...I just lost the game.'

Despite the fact that he fell for one of the many irritating gags of the century, Brendan didn't feel anymore deprived of reaching his goal. After getting his pokemon restored to one hundred percent, the challenger headed towards the gym.

For once, being inside of the gym made Brendan actually feel like he was inside a gym. A direct path through the center led to the gym leader, but it was dotted with treadmills that would send challengers back. Instead, the boy would have to navigate through a darkened maze one each side.

"Is every gym filled with these puzzles?" He let out a sigh before he started to walk through the darkened corridors.

In the Granite Cave, Erica had gone down a few meters past sea level. Taking a made path led her to a dimly lit room with strange markings on the wall. It was decorated with murals of what looked like an ancient battle.

"Was this an ancient pokemon battle?" Questioned the blond as her voice echoed.

"Perhaps." She quickly turned around to see a silver-haired guy in a tuxedo walking towards her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's ok." She broke her defensive stance and looked back at the giant cave painting. The silver-haired guy looked back at the painting with a somewhat excited smile.

"This battle took place many centuries ago. As far as I can tell, it shows a battle that took place between two beings. One that represented Omega and the land, and another that represented Alpha and the sea."

"How did you come to that conclusion?"

"An intuitive guess. As an employee of Devon Corp., I'm inclined to do so." That explanation specifically caught the girl's attention. She reached into her blue bag and pulled out the letter.

"Could you help me look for a guy named Steven?"

He turned to face Erica with a slightly surprised face. He then pointed to his face.

"That would be me." Answered Steven. Suddenly after that, she became more trusting of this guy.

She walked over and handed him the letter, trusting him with it. Once she gave the letter to him, she noticed a rainbow colored orb pinned to his tuxedo. He pulled out a data chip incased in a plastic case.

"If you wouldn't mind, could you deliver this to Captain Stern in Slateport?" In turn, the blond accepted the task at hand.

"I suppose that it couldn't hurt to go to Slateport. That's eastward of here, right?" Steven gave confirmation by nodding.

"Just so we can be on even grounds, what is your name?" Questioned the spelunker.

"I am Erica." She figured that it would only be fair to give her first name since she only knew his. Steven nodded and prompted to leave from the cave.

"I see, then I look forward to our next meeting."

Erica was also about to exit the cave, but not before looking back at the murals. Indeed, one creature had the symbol for alpha on it while the other had omega. The alpha creature had waves around it, and the omega creature had sun rays beaming down on it.

Another notable feature was three circles around the wall that, if lined together, formed a sort of triangle. But instead of taking intrigue, she passed it off as nothing too special before exiting.

'That Steven guy...I'm pretty sure that I've seen him in pop culture magazines before.'

Inside of the Dewford gym, Brendan had made it through the dark maze and into the chamber of the gym leader. Actually, it was more of a tiny gym than an actual gym.

The gym leader, who was pumping twenty pound weights, wore a black and orange wet suit. His hair was silver blue, and his skin tanned. The fingerless gloves and orange goggles were an enthusiastic touch.

"Yo trainer, ya here for a battle?" He dropped his weights to greet the challenger.

"Yes, my name is Brendan Kobushi and I challenge you." He pulled out a pokeball to signify his status.

"Alright then. I, Brawly, will accept that challenge." The gym leader put up his fists in an excited manner.

Both trainers launched their first pokeballs. The first pokemon sent out by the leader was a short and muscular blue fighting type, Machop. Brendan decided that it would be best to be fast, not strong to start off.

"Let's do this, Natsumi!" His Vulpix jumped out of the pokeball as he launched it.

"Machop, use bulk up." In an unsightly fashion, the fighting type increased his muscle mass.

"Natsumi, use quick attack." The fire fox jumped around quickly to close the distance between her and Machop before impacting.

"Use karate chop!" Before his opponent could get away, the fighting type slammed his chop into Natsumi's back. She quickly jumped back to her trainer.

Brawly and Brendan looked towards each other with intense eyes. Both of them wanted an intense battle and their pokemon reflected that feeling.

"Natsumi, use confuse ray!" The eyes of the fire type glowed a dim light that confused Machop, making him walk in a sort of dizzy manner. Brawly became a little surprised at this sudden change in the battle.

"Don't give in! Use seismic toss!" Shaking his head, the Machop regained his stance and shook off his confusion.

Needless to say, that caught Brendan and his pokemon off guard. Which left an opening for an attack as Natsumi was picked up and launched into the air. She quickly plummeted back to the ground, with little power left as a result.

"Natsumi, get some rest." He withdrew his pokemon before looking back his opponent. "How did Machop shake off his confusion?"

"A Machop has a natural desire for a good fight. That made it possible for my buddy to overcome his confusion." Explained the gym leader.

Brendan pondered on how to counter this. It didn't seem that a strategic approach wouldn't help. Irony kicked in and forced the challenger to go back to his previous strategy of intense attacking.

"Go Rin!" Launching the pokeball gave the dark hound a boost as she jumped out.

"And use fire fang!" She chomped down on Machop's arm, leaving a good bit of damage and a burn.

"Machop, use Karate Chop!" The fighting quickly tried to slammed his fist into the Poochyena. But her quick reflexes allowed her around the attack and behind him.

"Do it again!" Rin bounced around the room and jumped onto Machop's back and bit down with the finishing blow.

Brawly's face was slightly surprised as he retrieved his pokemon. The next pokemon sent out was pretty...chubby. Yellow colored its stout body, and it also had an interesting head that looked like a wrapped bento box. The short, stout, fighting Makuhita.

"That's an interesting pokemon." Stated Brendan a little nervously. Rin couldn't help but agree with him.

"We'll take that as a compliment." Both the pokemon and his trainer were sharing the same intensity and passion.

The brunette could feel this passion and wanted to return with the same passion that he held with his pokemon.

"Rin, charge in with a fire fang again!" Once again, the light-footed dark type raced across to bite her opponent.

"Makuhita, take it!" The fighting type merely placed its fist in the way of the attack and barely felt any damage.

Even though her trainer was shocked at this sudden defensive offense, Rin was more shocked because her opponents fist was barely able to stay in her jaw.

"Now, use arm thrust!" With one swing of his free fist, the bento-head (no offense out there) knocked the Poochyena across the room.

Even though she just took a major blow, Rin still tried to get back up on her paws. But the damage set in and she fainted. Brendan was forced to retrieve her and do some critical thinking for a strategy.

'Natsumi is out...and Apato would most likely get beaten...So its on Aqua now.' He picked out the pokeball containing the water starter.

"Go!" The ball flew out and released Aqua for the bout. "Hit em with a water gun!"

A tiny jet stream of water spewed from the Mudkip and onto the opponent. Unfortunately, it didn't do the exact damage that Brendan was hoping for.

"That was a good shot, but Makuhita can store up energy by eating and sleeping. And believe me, we eat and sleep along with training."

The brunette challenger was used to training and resting, but not to resting as a method to get stronger. He was also having a hard time coming up with a strategy that made use of a quadruped pokemon.

"Makuhita, use force palm!" The chubby pokemon jumped forward and unleashed a force onto Aqua, and knocked him back a few feet.

"We're not going to give up yet!" Yelled the challenger.

Suddenly, Aqua started to glow brightly. The light that overtook his body and started to change his shape. When the light faded he was standing on two feet, which made his now bigger hands free to use. His tail hand spilt and an orange spot appeared on his belly. Aqua evolved into a Marshtomp.

"Aqua...you evolved?" The water pokemon nodded to his trainer with a confident face.

"Alright, then charge in with a tackle!" Makuhita quickly braced himself against the impact from his evolved opponent.

"Now that's power. Makuhita, use arm thrust!" The left arm thrust up towards Aqua.

"Counter with mud slap!" The left arm of dragged dirt from the ground and blocked the attack. "And again!"

With a quick swing of his right arm, Aqua slammed into Makuhita and knocked him out with a critical hit. Brendan ran over to his pokemon and gave him a high five for the battle. Brawly released a happy sigh and retrieved his pokemon before walking over to the victor.

"Sweet battle bro. Here is the Knuckle Badge." Brendan accepted the badge.

"Thanks for the match." He fist bumped with the gym leader before exiting.

From the distance that he could see, Brawly watched the trainer with an intrigued face.

'So that's what a Kobushi packs in a battle.'

Thank you for reading this chapter, hoped you liked it. If there is anything to say, please leave a guest review. In the next chapter, Erica and May take part in the pokemon contest while Brendan comes face to face with Maxie.

By the way, "The Gray Adventure Part 2", is an actual fanfiction by Kingdom Lightz. He has a pretty amazing fanfiction series that I recommend.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I'm not sure if I still need to do this, but...I don't own Pokémon. Neither do I own Dragonball.

"Speech"

'Thought'

'I know that Erica has more experience than me. But I still feel like I'm going off track.'

In the last chapter, Brendan succeeded in defeating the Dewford gym and got another gym badge. When meeting back up with Erica, he learned of the new task at hand. Mr. Briney arrived a few hours later and Erica convinced him to get them to Slateport city.

'And I was really hoping that we could go to Petalburg and I could challenge Dad.' He let out an irritated sigh.

As the boat was roaring across the ocean, it was maneuvered around several rocks that posed as obstacles. As the captain carefully moved around, Brendan noticed something in the distance.

The speed of the boat made it hard to discern, but he could've sworn that an abandoned ship was hiding amongst the rocks.

"Erica! Did you see that?" Yelled the brunette. His blond teacher turned around in the direction that he was pointing towards.

"See what!? The rocks!?" She tried to look for something else, but all she could see was the rocks.

Brendan decided to not bother with it again, seeing as the enigmatic ship was far behind them at the moment.

It didn't take long before the two trainers reached Slateport city, or at least they reached its dock. While disembarking from the ship, Erica tossed Mr. Briney a gold nugget. Despite his worn out reflexes, the old man succeeded in catching.

"Consider it a thank you for getting us here." Stated the blond. Happy for the candid gratitude, Briney gave her a nod.

The boat began to pull itself out of the dock and turn to get back to Route 104 before pulled out his pokegear and checked to see the time.

"It's about 3:27. What should we do?" Asked the brunette.

"Well, I'm going to deliver this chip to Captain Stern." She pulled out the encased data chip. "What're you going to do?"

Brendan had to think a little bit about that. Training for the next gym battle did appeal good at first thought. But then again, his pokemon had put a great deal of effort in for today.

"Nothing good really seems to be coming to mind at the moment. My pokemon have already put in more than enough effort for today."

"Well if you've got nothing else to do, why not come with me?" Her suggestion did appeal well to the current situation.

Brendan looked off to the side for a moment before nodding. Erica smiled and led him off of the docks. When they got past the docks, the two trainers had to traverse past the beach to get to the city, not that it was a predicament.

Whilst she continued towards the city, the blond's thoughts continued to circulate around the idea of taking some time of rest on the beach when she would get a chance.

Several battles were taking place on the beach, all of which were catching the attention of one Brendan. He watched two kids battling from afar and it reminded him of his old friend.

"I wonder how May is doing." Stated Brendan blatantly. Erica turned to him when she heard that name.

"You're friend from Littleroot town? She told me that journeying around and documenting the ecosystem was what she wanted to do."

"That doesn't really sound like May at all. She is in a way, competitive." Explained the brunette. "Speaking of competitive, you don't seem to catch to many pokemon."

Although it was more of a statement, Erica could feel it as a premature judgment coming from a novice. She pulled off a second pokeball from her trainer belt and gave a small scoff.

"Never judge your opponent when no battle is taking place." The pokeball opened up and released a little quadruped pokemon that was covered in some sort of metal, an Aron. "This is Tetsa, I met her while you were in the gym."

The judgment had been traded out in Brendan's mind for admiration at the steel type in front of him. He probably also misunderstood the lesson she was trying to convey to him. Guys do like metal.

"At any rate, lets go get this to Captain Stern." She retrieved her pokemon, releasing Brendan from his trance, and continuing towards the city.

Brendan had absolutely no idea of what building he was supposed to be looking for. But he was impressed by the variance in architecture that the seaside city had to offer. His vision led to the northern side of the city, where he could see a massive crowd gathering.

"Hey, lets go see what's over there." Exclaimed the brunette as he began to walk away.

"Why should we do that?"

"It might be something awesome like an intense battle or something." Vigor was blatantly showing from his face.

"Besides, it might be boring wherever this Stern guy is." Erica sighed with a slight bit of annoyance.

"It might be boring over there as well."

Unfortunately, her retort fell on deaf ears. Brendan just continued to walk in the direction of the crowd. Another sigh escaped her lips and the girl ran to catch up to her friend.

The two trainers tried to squeeze their way through the crowd to see just what all the hype was about. They surrounded a bright colored building and a woman who stood in front of it. Said woman had a cloud dragon pokemon, Altaria, with her.

"It's time for Lisia's scouting event!" Cheered the girl loudly while striking a pose.

As she got closer, Erica was able to make out a better image of Lisia. She had turquoise hair knotted into a ponytail, and wore a brightly decorated blue and white outfit that matched Altaria's appearance.

Lisia started to eye throughout the crowd with a curious, but playful face. When her vision crossed over to the blond, a sudden nervous chill ran down Erica's spine.

"That's it! I scout you!" Lisia pointed in the general direction towards Erica, further startling her.

The blue haired girl ran over and picked out a different girl from the audience. Not getting picked left the Kalos champion calmed down, but at the same time disappointed.

Interestingly though, the girl that was picked from the audience was May. Her eyes and slightly open mouth gave off the impression that she didn't expect herself to be picked.

"You are the hundredth person to be scouted!" Cheered the pop star. She held a microphone up to the brunette. "Just say your name and how you feel about contests."

"Is that May? What is she doing here?" Asked Brendan out loud. She tried to put on a confident face as she took the microphone.

"Um...Hi everyone. My name is May Birch, and I think that pokemon contests are spectacular shows of art!" The nervous expression faded away as she stated her stance.

The crowd almost instantly started to cheer and applaud May's standpoint on the subject. Lisia was also clapping happily while her pokemon was flying jubilantly. Despite the immense popularity, the pig tailed girl still felt somewhat nervous and handed the microphone back.

"Alright everyone! That's it for now, but be sure to catch the next contest soon!" She struck some kind of pose that looked like a dance mixed in with a salute.

Once again, the crowd started to cheer loudly at the idea. Both the pop star and her selected candidate moved back into the building whilst the crowd began to dissipate. A long time wasn't necessary before it was just Brendan and Erica left over.

'Pokémon...contests?' Intrigue began to circulate through her mind about the idea of a pokemon contest participation.

"You know what? You were right." The girl was broken out of her thoughts by her companion's voice. "Aside from seeing May out of nowhere, that was pretty boring."

'Of course it would make sense that he wouldn't want to give it a try.' Thought Erica as the obliviousness of Brendan's nature began to show.

"Regardless of that, I think we should go in and say hi to May." Suggested the veteran trainer.

"Ok, that does seem like a good thing to do." They walked into the contest hall shortly afterwards.

Usually when people think of performance centers, they expect some kind of artistic building with sculptures and a massive theater. So it came with some surprise that neither of the trainers were expecting the building to be filled with so much vibrancy of color.

"Looking at this decor isn't making me think that pokemon contests are anymore entertaining then they were before."

Erica didn't really seem to pay attention to what Brendan was saying, she just continued to look around at the place. It wasn't a shock to her that people and pokemon could interact outside of a battle, or that they could work together for a performance.

'I'm surprised that they could make contests out of pokemon performances.' Thought the blond as she gazed upon the multiple portraits of winning contestants.

"So where could May be?" Questioned the brunette as he folded his arms. Looking around gave him the answer as he saw May going into a dressing room. "There she is!"

Inside the dressing room, May was dazzled by all the different accessories that she could wear to make into a costume. Thinking about Lisia made her want to create a costume that would be just as good.

'Lisia's outfit was in relation to her partner pokemon. I should think carefully about what to use.' But she wouldn't get long to decide on what to use.

A few knocks resonated from the other side of the door, prompting the pig tailed girl to go check through the eyehole. She became elated when she saw her friends on the other side and opened the door.

"Hi guys! What brings you here?" Asked May as she let them in

"We are running an errand for Devon Corp. and we just happened to see you here." Explained Brendan while he looked around the room.

"Are you two traveling together?" An expected feeling of embarrassment crept into the boy's mind when that question reached his ears.

"Well...Erica is teaching me along the way...so I guess so." Explained Brendan. "What are you doing out here?"

"I'm just traveling around the region and documenting the different pokemon and their environments." May looked over to the blond girl, who was currently looking at the different costumes. This action and oblivious nature made the pig tailed girl curious.

Brendan also looked over to his teacher and was caught curious to her unusual interest in the place.

"Um Erica?" She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard her friend and quickly composed her image.

"Yeah, what is it?" Both novice trainers looked towards each other before looking back to the veteran trainer.

"Do you want to enter into the contest or something?" Asked May.

It was at this point that Erica's ambivalent feelings began to surface. She had a reputation for being a strong trainer and had very little to be surprised at. On the other hand, she really wanted to try contests, even if there was a big chance of failure.

"I guess I would like to give it a shot. But I still need to deliver this to Captain Stern." Answered the veteran trainer as she pulled out the chip.

"If that's the issue, I can take it over there for you." Brendan walked over and took the chip out of her hand.

"Aw thanks Brendan, you're sweet." Erica thanked him with a gracious smile.

"It's no problem." Said the boy as he exited the room.

Once the boy left the room, Erica turned to May and they began to discuss what to do about the contest. You know, girl talk.

'Truth be told, I didn't really want to stay there anyways.' Thought the brunette as he exited the brightly colored building. 'Pokémon Contest doesn't seem anywhere near as awesome as a battle does.'

He walked across the city in search of anything that would or could give off the indication of a place to find a captain. It was certainly easier last time, seeing as how the captain had a boat next to his house.

Logic dictated that a trip to the nearest shore would do some good. Brendan looked back in the direction that he came from, but instead of seeing any kind of boathouse or dock all he could see was the contest hall and some other smaller buildings.

"Alright, to the other side it is. And away from the pokemon contest." Stated the boy out loud. And a large part of him hoped that neither Erica nor May could hear him as he said that.

Inside the contest hall, Erica had picked out a ticket for the upcoming toughness contest. She walked into the dressing room which she had met up with May earlier as she thought about what to do for the contest.

'I've only heard so little about these contests.' As if looking for an answer, she looked towards the word 'tough' colored yellow.

'If the contest is about being tough, then Tetsa seems like a good choice.' She pulled out the pokeball and released her pokemon.

"Tetsa, I know that this may seem sudden, but we are going to enter into a contest of toughness." Stated the blond girl as she pumped her fists. Luckily for her, the Aron liked the idea of showing of toughness (what did she expect from a pokemon literally made of iron?).

About twenty more minutes passed before Erica and May would perform in the contest. When they walked out onto the stage, both trainers were wearing some out of place outfits.

May was wearing an outfit that more clearly looked like Lisia's, except this one didn't have the cloud wrist accessories, and it was pink.

Erica on the other hand was dressed in a blue and orange martial arts gi (like dragonball but inverted).

Once the contestants walked out on stage the crowd erupted in cheers. The blond champion started to feel refreshed in this sort of environment that she struck a pose. However, it didn't take long before she realized that they were cheering for the pokemon.

'Oh, well now I feel a little ridiculous in this outfit.' Thought the blond with a tiny bit of a nervous smile.

May also felt embarrassed as her costume was more appropriate for a beauty contest or a cute contest as opposed to the one that she was participating in. Erica's interest turned to the pokemon that was with the brunette.

'So that's May's pokemon.' Said pokemon was the magma fire slug, Slugma. At the moment it was keeping its temperature down so as to not burn through the floor.

One contestant that stood out from the crowd was a brunette girl with green eyes. She was wearing a red skirt and top combo, her hair was in a ponytail held by a star clip, and she was wearing black leggings. And her performance partner was a Raichu.

'Now she is going to be some competition.'

On the other side of Slateport city, Brendan had found his way to the ocean museum (sorry kids, not an aquarium). Male reasoning led him to believe that the best place to look for a captain would be a place centering around the ocean.

While looking around the museum, Brendan was instantly losing his interest in this errand solely because of the place he was in.

"I know that museums could have nice exhibits and all, but none of this stuff seems too interesting to me." Noted the brunette as he looked around.

Suddenly, the boy could feel a tremor shake through the building. It wasn't loud enough to alert everyone else in the building, but Brendan's experience in battle was enough to alert him to the change.

"Did it come from upstairs?" Whispered the protagonist to himself. Quickly and quietly, he maneuvered up to the second floor to investigate.

What he found didn't sit all to well with the hero. A man wearing a nice brown suit was being cornered by several people wearing red hoods. Brendan's heart told him to charge in immediately, but he had something else in mind.

'If it was Erica, she would tell me to stay down.' Thought the protagonist. Although the thought of just standing by didn't really suit him.

"Stop destroying this place! What is it that you want from me?" Begged the man as he tried to retain his confidence.

"Our boss has some business to do with you." Answered one of the grunts as he crept closer.

On instinct, Brendan crept a little closer, which made a tiny sound that quickly caught the attention of one of the grunts. The red grunt that wasn't confronting the old man turned to see the noise. Luckily Brendan's reflexes moved faster before he could be seen.

'That was too close.' Thought the boy.

A couple of moments after that, a man with red hair and some kind of red and black suit. Strangely, he had hair that was also red and combed backwards. And he also wore a strange pair of glasses.

'Who is that?'

"You are Captain Stern, correct?" Questioned the man.

"Yes, that is me. What do you want?" The red man scoffed and adjusted his glasses.

"I have to know who exactly it is that your company is supplying the aquatic equipment for, but first." He turned around towards the staircase with an indifferent face. "It is rude to eavesdrop."

Brendan instantly panicked, this guy had know that he was here all along? The first impulsive action that he had was to further conceal himself by moving back a few more inches.

'Come on, think that you were imagining me.' Hoped the brunette in his thoughts.

"Stop fooling yourself, I already know that you are there." Stated the red man.

'Should I hide, or challenge him?'

At this point, the boy was having an internal conflict. His previous lifestyle of reckless fighting was starting to affect him and telling him to challenge instead of hide, but the things that he had learned from Erica were telling him otherwise.

'...Dammit.' He walked up the stairs in an unusually calm manner and looked towards the group with a concentrated face.

"So it was you who was spying on us?" Brendan nodded carefully at that, he could feel some kind of powerful presence from this guy.

"I'll have you know that eavesdropping on the business of adults is a very rude thing to do."

"And I don't care. I can obviously see that you are trying to beat something out of this guy." Retorted the hero quickly and confidently.

The red-cloaked man walked forward a couple of steps before he stood tall in front of Brendan. They both stared at each other with an intimidating glare, but the younger of the two could feel himself shrinking somewhat.

A scoff escaped from the mouth of the older man, he pushed his glasses back in place before turning back to Captain Stern.

"I personally doubt that you could understand, this is merely business about adults. And all we want is a name." The old captain backed away again with the same angry face as Brendan.

"W-well, if the name is all you want. They are Chinchou Explorations." Answered the old man.

In return, the red-cloaked man gave a confident smirk. Turning to his grunts, he waved his hand to the right and they nodded in unison. All three of them walked past Brendan and towards the stairs.

Being unnoticed and called a kid was easily enough to upset the hero of the setting. But Erica's teachings and the fact that these people hadn't harmed anyone stopped him from picking a fight.

"Hey, wait!" But not from shouting and giving a short chase. "Who are you!?"

Once more, the leader of the group gave Brendan the glare that was magnified through his glasses. And once again, the teenager was trying to keep himself confident despite the situation he put himself in.

"I am the Great Maxie."

Immediately after those five words came out, Maxie and his grunts exited the building. The brunette was left with the same face of concentration mixed with anger.

'Why...why was I intimidated by that guy?'

Back at the contest hall, May and her Slugma had just scored big time as the fire slug created a powerful flaring spiral via incinerate. Now this would be a challenge for the blond contestant.

'Wow, we're going to have to pull through hard for this one.' She quickly ran out onto stage with her Aron following after her.

"Alright Tetsa, use headbutt!" Quickly in response to her trainer's commands, the iron type ran up Erica's body and slammed itself into the ground.

A wide crater was made as a result, and the entire audience was left just about speechless. At first the blond felt confident in her pokemon's endurance, but now she was a little worried that the ground may have been a little too thick.

'Maybe that was a little too much force?' Thought Erica as she looked over to Tetsa, who remained motionless.

It was at this moment that Brendan had made his way into the performance room to see what his mentor had been up to. However, he didn't expect the room to be so quiet. Looking up towards the stage gave him the answer as to why.

'How did that happen?'

The blond girl remained stunned and silent as she looked down to her partner, who still didn't move. A familiar feeling of helplessness welcomed her.

"Testa..." Whispered Erica with some bit of anguish.

But immediately after hearing that, the Aron jumped back up on her hind legs and gave a victory pose. The crowd's shocked and silent expressions instantly shifted into screams of joy and amazement.

Erica was now stunned by this sudden change in the atmosphere, but she too basked in the amazement by giving a smile and a peace sign towards the audience.

When she looked out at the crowd, she could see her friend also cheering for her. In a span of a few seconds, her expression shifted between surprise and satisfaction.

'I guess that even he could be amazed by contests.'

A few more hours passed afterwards and found the three protagonists sitting outside of the contest hall.

"That was a quick and amazing come back that you made out there Erica." Commented May.

"Thank you. But I still don't think that it could've gone better." Admitted the blond sheepishly.

"Who cares? You might've come in third place, but you were still amazing!" Stated Brendan out loud. Both girls started to giggle a little bit at what he had said. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing Brendan, though I do appreciate the support." Answered Erica.

'Though we should've anticipated that other girl winning.' Thought May before she got up from the bench and stretched a bit.

"Well, I'm going to find a place to sleep for the night." She began to walk away from her friends. "And Brendan, next time we need to battle."

"Yeah, of course we will!" He pumped his fist out confidently.

With May out of the scene, all that was left was the two trainers. Despite the fact that he was still far from challenging his father, the brunette was feeling good about being with his friends.

"Thanks Erica." She turned to her student with a questioned face.

"For what?"

"Even though you looked scared up there on the stage, you didn't feel bad for yourself but your partner. That was inspiring for me." Answered the boy.

In an almost instant manner, she felt embarrassed that she let herself be seen like that in front of somebody she was supposed to be teaching.

"But more than that, thanks for sticking with me on this journey." That comment helped to ease her embarrassment.

"Well, you're a really good friend to have around. Thank you for being my partner in this too." Said the girl as she looked towards the dimming sky.

Hearing that helped Brendan even more. Despite the fact that there would be many intimidating foes, despite the fact that he still had a long way to go, and despite his reckless nature, he had good friends with him.

Yes, I am back baby! I'd like to apologize that I took me so long to upload this chapter, I promise that I will start working on the next one tomorrow with no delays period! And thanks for reading this chapter. In the next one, Brendan will take on both his rival May and the gym in Mauville city.

In case you couldn't tell, the girl that was mentioned earlier was Haine, and original character of lovelychu. If you haven't seen her artwork on deviantart yet, I highly recommend it as she is great.


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